


Winter's Song

by an0neemouse



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Medieval, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Arranged Marriage, Battle fatigue, Depression, Historical Inaccuracy, Insecurity, M/M, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Relationship Growth, Romance, Slow Burn, some sexual content
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-04-04
Packaged: 2019-10-06 00:18:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 25,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17335115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/an0neemouse/pseuds/an0neemouse
Summary: Married young after they had only met once, the intervening years have not necessarily been kind. Despite his misgivings, Chanyeol shows up in the dead of winter to take Baekhyun back to his home with him after the younger man's father gets in contact and informs him in no uncertain terms that he is to do so or forfeit the alliance of their estates.  Baekhyun is no longer the child Chanyeol remembers and he has no idea how to bring another person into his dark and scarred world, battling the ghosts of war and trying desperately to find common ground with this husband whom he doesn't even know.  Can Baekhyun break down the walls surrounding Chanyeol's heart or will his own doubts defeat them before they even begin?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: This will be chaptered. I do not know how long it will be. Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think so far. I hope you enjoy it!

“Halmeoni, when did you fall in love with Halabeoji?” Baekhyun asks his grandmother, young round face shining with curiosity over his grandparent’s love story.

“Fall, Aegie-ah?” She asks cuddling her small grandson close and pressing a kiss to his forehead. She’s pleased to note that the fever seems to be gone but the small child still seems so weak, so frail. They had been so close to losing him and her old heart aches at the very thought. 

“Ne.” Baekhyun says with an earnest little nod of his head. He presses close and wraps his little arms around his grandmother’s soft middle. “When did you fall in love with Halabeoji?”

“I never fell in love with him.” His grandmother tells him gently. 

“Yes you did!” Baekhyun argues pulling back so he can stare incredulously at his grandmother’s beautifully lined face. 

“Ani, Aegie.” She says with a soft smile and a gentle shake of her head, gathering him back to her side. “I never fell in love with your Halabeoji. I fell into infatuation. I maybe even fell into lust.” She pauses to chuckle at the way Baekhyun’s little upturned nose wrinkles at the word. “But I never fell in love. No. That is something you choose.”

“Why?” Baekhyun asks, his delicate brow furrowed in confusion. 

“Because, Aegie-ah,” She explains patiently, “If you fall in love then you can fall right back out again. But if you choose to love – then you choose that every day,. Even on days when you don’t feel in love, you still choose to love. That is how a long and healthy marriage is made.”

~*~

Their union had been planned since early childhood, when it first became clear that Baekhyun wouldn’t be the one to give them heirs. His family is influential, wealthy, and very much tied up in tradition, but despite being the eldest of three brothers, Baekhyun is married off young which isn’t odd in itself, but the fact that he’s married to a man is. A high fever that had nearly killed him at the tender age of five made his parent question their eldest son’s ability to ever father children and therefore heirs. Rather than risk the potential future destruction of their family or its holdings with unexpected heirs feuding for legitimacy, Baekhyun’s parents married him off to a man, a younger son from a neighboring estate with a small holding of his own. They get the money for his hand and a strategic alliance and Baekhyun gets a husband at the ripe age of eleven while Jongin who is two years younger and next in line gets a wife and a chance at being lord someday. 

Baekhyun doesn’t have a problem with his husband, not really. He is envious of Jongin and the rold he should have been allowed to fill, but he doesn’t hold any ill will for his husband or his brother for that matter. He is even a little envious of Sehun, their youngest brother who is so carefree and playful, uninterested in alliances or titles or marriages. Not that any of these things really become a concern for Baekhyun until he is older. As a child when he was married all he had really understood was that it was because he had been ill that he was marrying a boy instead of a girl. AS a teenager he realizes that it was strategic in so many ways beyond simply gaining another alliance for his father along with a son-in-law. Rather than trust that he won’t be able to have kids, they married him to another man, ensuring that he couldn’t have kids. Ever. 

He had only met his husband once for the ceremony. An arranged marriage of pure convenience. He had been eleven and Chanyeol had already been a man at twenty. Their meeting had been brief indeed, a simple meeting and signing of the contract and then off to live their own lives for the next several years. During that time Baekhyun grew up and instead of learning the art of the sword or hand to hand combat like his brothers, he learns to cook and keep a house and manage a household; all the tasks usually passed down to a daughter. 

As the years pass he writes letters. One every week. At first they are simply about his days and what he does to fill them, but then as time goes on they become other things; his hopes, his dreams, and his worries for the future. And with each letter he eagerly awaits Chanyeol’s reply, messy handwriting clumsily telling him of lessons past far more interesting than his and then of the military and hardships unknown to him but heart wrenching all the same. But then as months fade into years the replies become strained and infrequent and had Chanyeol still been off fighting Baekhyun would have feared the worst, but the other had returned to his own estate safe and sound and despite Baekhyun’s continued correspondence Chanyeol eventually ceases to reply entirely. 

So it is with surprise that Baekhyun opens a letter addressed to him in Chanyeol’s sloping handwriting one morning four months before his eighteenth birthday informing him that the elder would be collecting him at the end of the week. There is little warmth in the letter, nothing to indicate years of acquaintance through correspondence, just a simple missive indicating that he should be in readiness. It is within a matter of days that Baekhyun readies his things and awaits the arrival of his husband, doing his best to ignore Jongin and Sehun’s moping about his leaving and his father’s insistent orders to stop sulking and be respectful of the man who married him.

The morning dawns clear and crisp on the day that Chanyeol is set to arrive but as the day goes on the clear skies turn from blue to steely gray and a wet chill creeps in covering the land in a wicked mist. It is out of this mist that Baekhyun watches from his bedroom window on the second floor as Chanyeol’s carriage appears like an apparition, first the horses, proud creatures all of them, and then the drivers wrapped in thick furst against the cold, and then the carriage itself. He watches with no small trepidation as his husband descends from the carriage when it finally rolls to a stop, horses stomping and whinnying restlessly. Baekhyun watches as first his broad shoulders clothed in thick fur against the cold appear followed by the rest of him, long legs and well built arms; head lowered against the wind so that Baekhyun never really gets a good look at his face. They were both so young at the wedding, he has grown from boy to man and although Chanyeol had already been grown at the time Baekhyun knows that much will have changed in the seven year interim. 

“Oh Chanyeol.” Baekhyun hears his father boom from the great hall below. He doesn’t move from the window, knows he doesn’t have to and besides, he is too scared to do so even if he tried. His heart is racing as he listens to Chanyeol’s deep voice rumble back in greeting. “Kim Chunhwa. It is a pleasure to see you again.”

Next he hears his mother’s voice clear and beautiful, ringing out as she plays the role of hostess to perfection. “Chanyeol-ssi, welcome to our home. You must be tired, if you would like to wash up we can get some hot food to ward away this cold.”

“Thank you, Sunhee-ssi, but I mustn’t linger. I am agraid the weather is of such a nature that if I do not collect Baekhyun and be away we may not be able to for some time. The sky is threatening of snow and I would like to be in my own home when the heavens let loose and cover us in the rest of their wrath until spring can finally break through.”

“I understand.” Sunhee acquiesces easily. For years she has dreaded this day and although he asking Chanyeol to stay had been in hopes of stalling him from taking her son away, she has long since resigned herself to the fact that eventually he would be going even if she wasn’t eagerly awaiting it like her husband was. “I’ll go fetch him.”

“No, Sehun will.” Chunhwa supersedes imperiously spinning around and beckoning his youngest son from the shadows where he had been watching the proceedings with wide eyes and brotherly fear. Sehun, come here.”

At fourteen he has just enough childish wonder left in him to imagine Chanyeol as a great ogre come to take his brother away, his brother over whom he has always felt fiercely protective because of his proneness to illness. Obediently though he emerges from the shadows and shuffles forward until he is before his father and mother, glancing briefly into the softness of his mother’s eyes before returning his gaze to the flagstone floor. “Yes, Father?”

“Go fetch your brother, tell him his husband is here to collect him.” Chunhwa commands gruffly, softening when his wife lays a lovely manicured hand on his arm. 

“Please, Chunhwa, let me go get him and have a moment with my son before he leaves me. Let Sehun stay here with you and get to know his brother-in-law for a moment. I’m sure Jongin is lurking nearby, they rarely go anywhere without one another. He can come out too and you can all get to know each other before we send Baekhyun away.” She speaks gently and with the cultured voice of someone born into such a position and accustomed to dealing with such a stubborn and headstrong man as Chunhwa. 

Chunhwa huffs a little but nods curtly, bellowing for Jongin to come out from behind that ‘damn pillar’ before turning back to his wife, quietly telling her to be on her way then. It is only after Sunhee has left the room, disappearing with a swish of long skirts and ebony hair that Chunhwa turns his attention back to their guest. “We won’t keep you long, Chanyeol-ssi, but Shunhee is rather close to Baekhyun. Perhaps you would like a bit to eat while they say their goodbyes?”

Chanyeol is not particularly pleased with the arrangement but he agrees nonetheless; he really has no other recourse anyway. He follows Chunhwa and his two youngest sons to the head of the hall where a great flireplace stands, flames crackling merrily in the hearth, a mammoth table set before it with long benches and ornately carved chairs surrounding it. He observes the boys, noting how they are in turn observing him but trying unsuccessfully to hide it. 

“Please, Chanyeol-ssi, make yourself comfortable.” Chunhwa says settling himself at the head of the table and indicating that Chanyeol should sit to his right. “Sehun, go tell cook to bring us something to eat. And tell her to keep it simple. We’re on a time schedule.”

“Yes, Appa.” Sehun replies dutifully, leaving the hall to do as he is told, brown hair bounding as he skips from the room. Jongin moves to follow but is stopped with a word from his father. 

“Not you, Jongin, Sit down.”

“Yes, Appa.” Jongin responds sullen but obedient, seating himself to Chunhwa’s left directly opposite of Chanyeol. He peeks at the odler man from beneath the fringe of copper colored hair surrounding his face. He thought the other looks a bit like a bear; big and broad with thick dark hair and powerful arms beneath his fur cloak. Winter hadn’t been kind that year and Jongin wondered at how his frail brother would fair the journey much less life with such a behemoth of a man. 

“Chanyeol-ssi, this is my middle son and heir, Jongin. Jongin, this is your brother-in-law, Chanyeol.” Chunhwa introduces in an attempt to cut the tension. After the introductions and polite greetings on both ends , they fall silent again until Sehun finally comes back, bubbly personality lighting up the room as they wait for the spread of meat and cheeses and assorted preserved fruits from cook to arrive. While he had been with cook Sehun had decided to make the most of the situation. If Baekhyun saw him being afraid of his husband then Baekhyun would be afraid too and so when he returns to the great hall he puts on a smile and shares his most winning stories, pleased when he wrings smiles from both his father and his brother-in-law.

~*~

Baekhyun heard the entire exchange and is glad that his mother is the one coming for him. He loves Sehun dearly but isn’t sure he can handle whatever emotion the other is exuding at the moment. When his mother knocks he calls entry immediately, seeing no reason to bar or delay her in any way. 

“Baekhyun-ah, your husband is here.” Sunhee says gently coming to perch on the window bench next to her son who never takes his eyes off the carriage below as it is being loaded by footmen and servants with the two trunks that contain the entirety of his life. 

“Do I have to go?” Baekhyun asks quietly, finally turning to face his mother when the men have finished below. “Do I have to go with him?” 

Sunhee’s face is soft and gentle as she nods, tears welling in her eyes for her gentle son. “Yes Baekhyun, you must go.”

“But I’m scared.” Baekhyun whispers fidgeting with his fingers in his lap. “He stopped writing, Umma. What if he doesn’t want me?”

“He’s here now,” Sunhee responds scooping up her son’s hands and cradling them in her own. “We’ll just have to take that as a sign that he does want you. And if at any time you do not feel safe, I want you to write to me and I will send your Appa with all the speed his horses possess.” 

“Appa would not come.” Baekhyun replies, voice heavy with sadness and the trickling of tears he isn’t quite able to hold back. “He is glad to see the back of me. I’m a failure; his broken son.”

“He loves you; he just doesn’t always know how to show it.” Sunhee reassures no longer able to content herself with simply holding his hands; she needs more contact. She gathers him into her arms, letting him loose his tears on her shoulder as she cradles him there much as she had when he was younger. “Oh, Baekhyun, you may find this Chanyeol is gentle and kind. You may fall in love with him. God knows I did with your father, and when we were betrothed we were nothing more than strangers.”

“I’ll miss you, Umma.” Baekhyun sniffles hugging his mother close for a moment before letting her go and wiping his tears, sleep black hair falling in his eyes. “You’ll write me, won’t you?”

“Of course.” Sunhee responds seeing that their time is indeed coming to a close as she stands and pulls Baekhyun with her. “And you must write to me as well.’

“It will be the best part of my week.” Baekhyun says with a watery smile before squaring his shoulders and setting his jaw. “Now, I really don’t remember much of him from when we were married. Let’s go down and meet my husband.”

~*~

The goodbyes are said with plenty of tears although Baekhyun tries desperately to hide his own from his husband. HE feels intimidated beyond measure by Chanyeol’s sheer size and the grizzled strength of him, but all the same he bids farewell to his family, dutifully mounts the carriage, and settles opposite the bear of a man for the journey to his new home. He waves to Sehun and Jongin as they run behind the carriage to the gate, but after that as they rock away onto the open road and silence descends, he is alone and excruciatingly aware of the other’s scrutiny. 

They ride in silence for several hours, Baekhyun lost in his thoughts of his family and Chanyeol lost in thoughts of the younger. He finds him comely enough to look at, with his dark hair and huge pansy eyes, small body dwarfed beneath the furs he has donned for the journey and hidden beneath the ones covering his lap. But something about the boy’s air and the way he holds himself makes him wonder if being alone might have been better than this farce of a marriage they’ve entered into. 

When he had received the missive from Chunhwa telling him that he had a fortnight to come and collect the boy or they would be seeking another arrangement as well as reparations for time passed, he had immediately set forth writing two letters; one to Baekhyun announcing his desire for the other to join him, and on for Chunhwa to dissuade any hurt feelings he might have inadvertently caused with his absence. It wasn’t that he didn’t want the other there, he actually though that it might be quite pleasant to have him around, but he had become set in his ways, and after the war had retreated into his own mind and become sullen. His home has become a shadow of the joyful place it had once been and that knowledge made him hesitate as long as possible before bringing Baekhyun into his darkness. 

“How long of a journey do we have?” Baekhyun asks tenor voice more like his mother’s than his father’s deep baritone. 

“With luck we will arrive first thing in the morning.” Chanyeol answers surprised a little at how much he likes the crystal sound of the other’s voice. “That is if the weather holds out. If it doesn’t it could take longer.”

“Why did you fetch me in winter?” Baekhyun inquires truly curious. Trips are not made during winter unless absolutely necessary. The cold is too fierce and the snow too intense, a fact only too evident as he feels the chill seep deep into his bones. The prospect of a full night in the cold has him shivering slightly. 

“You are my husband, you belong with me.” Chanyeol replies simply, having already promised Chunhwa not to mention anything about the missive or his own reluctance to claim the boy. 

Baekhyun merely hums in response and returns his gaze to the window. Eventually his eyes close with the rocking of the carriage and the sinking of the sun, head relaxing against the plush seat behind as sleep claims him. 

Chanyeol on the other hand remains alert and wary. Journeys such as these are dangerous at the best of times, but in the middle of winter highwaymen are likely to be desperate and far more aggressive if they choose to stop their carriage. It isn’t until he notices Baekhyun shivering violently in his sleep that he is spurred into some sort of action beyond staring pensively at the other. After a moment’s indecision he switches seats so that he is next to the younger, pulling his lap furs with him and draping them so that they cover Baekhyun’s shoulders, gently easing the other down so that he lay across the seat, head cradled in his lap and he pulls the other furs to cover the rest of them. 

And so it is like this that they travel across the frozen countryside as the first flakes begin to fall, slowly blanketing the ground with their freshness and sticking fiercely to the iron wheels of the carriage. Dutifully the horses plod on at the urging of their drivers, and despite the snow they continue to make good time well into the night and early morning. But just as the sun is rising on the horizon so are tidings of ill will brought swiftly at the point of sword and desperation. 

Baekhyun wakens to the sound of the horses whinnying and stomping, the carriage rocking fitfully with their agitation. There is a shout from the drivers above and then a yell as one falls, struck through. He goes down like a sack, body falling limply, blood crimson against the snow where it flows freely from the gash across his chest and neck, snuffing the life from him. There are more shouts from the other driver and the footman as well as the men who have surrounded their carriage and Baekhyun sits up shaking and trembling, consumed with fear and head swimming with confusion. Chanyeol is already moving into action, hand wrapped securlyl around the base of his sword while his other tucks a small dagger into his boot. Reaching for the door handle, Chanyeol goes out to greet their guests rather than waiting for them to come inside, wantint ot meet them ouside and hopefully keep Baekhyun safe from any violence as well as to protect him from seeing the things he knows only too well can scar as viciously as any sword. 

“M’lord.” One of the men greets in heavy dialect. He is brandishing a wicked looking blade from where he stands in front of their horses, half a dozen of them in total. “Do you have a pretty lady you’re protecting? Bring the bitch out for us, there’s no need to be selfish.”

“There is nothing here for you.” Chanyeol replies shutting the carriage door behind him so that Baekhyun remains concealed within as he squares himself against the marauders. “We have no wealth or wench so be gone with you.”

“Ah, but even those furs would fetch a pretty price.” The leader says from atop his horse. “What lies you speak when clearly you are of nobility. Such a better prize than the homespun clothes of the peasants who oft travel here.”

“Be gone.” Chanyeol repeats lowly analyzing the situation critically. It’s just him, Xiumin his footman, and Jongdae his surviving driver if he excludes Baekhyun from his calculations as he fully intends to do. With half a dozen highway men surrounding them they are outnumbered two to one, each man with grizzly weaponry and the desperation to make each blow deadly. “I will not tell you again. We have nothing here for you.”

“Even if your furs were of no fortune, which they are, the wench you protect would be prize enough.” The leader continues folding his hands nonchalantly as if has not a care in the world. “I know I am not the only one who would love to dip their wick in the hot wetness of that bitch’s cunt.”

Before anyone can even see what’s happening Chanyeol strikes, the knife from his boot cutting through the air light light to lodge in the leader’s throat, the free flow of blood gurgling forth forcing the man to drown in his own fluids as he gasps for air. The man on foot lunges but Chanyeol sidesteps, knocking his weapon from his grasp, and bringing an elbow down hard on the back of his skull, sending him sprawling to the cold hard ground. The remaining four reign in their mounts which have grown restless with the action, pulling swords and daggers alike from their sheaths as they advance cautiously. 

“Get down from your mounts and face me like men!” Chanyeol bellows angrily breath puffing forth in clouds of white from his nostrils. Rather than do as requested the men attack from aloft, bearing down on the brutish man from all sides. With a mighty yell Chanyeol sweeps his sword round catching one across his sword arm and another across the chest causing them to either fall or fallback, clutching at their injuries. With his free hand he grasps one by the ankle and swings him to the ground, advancing mercilessly to drive his blade through the prone man’s chest. 

“No!” Chanyeol hears the sharp cry before he can strike, spinning to see Baekhyun’s struggling from being hauled bodily from the carriage by the last bandit. He changes his plan of attack, leaving the prone man with assurance that he will remain down or face his death, he rounds on the other, noting the wicked looking scar the man has stretching through his eyebrow and well down into his cheek. 

“Stop right there.” The man orders brandishing a sharp looking dagger at Baekhyun’s throat, pulling the boy’s head back by the hair and pressing the blade just hard enough to make blood well dark around the tip. “Stop there or I let loose all his blood.”

Despite his natural inclination to charge Chanyeol does as instructed, grinding to a halt with murder in his eyes and a fearsome growl in his throat. “Release him.”

“WE thought you had a bitch with ou, but this little wastrel will be just as nice. I’ve always thought a tight asshole was better than a willing pussy any day.” The man taunts stepping backwards and dragging a whimpering Baekhyun with him. Chanyeol watches with fury turned releif as the man backs straight into his driver, a short blade pulled swiftly and efficiently across the bandit’s throat spilling his blood on Baekhyun just as a harp pain slices across his arm. 

“No you don’t!” Xiumin yells sword coming down brutally on the last bandit’s extended arm, blow perfect so that the flesh splits open at the elbow and disconnects, the dismembered limb falling useless to the ground while Xiumin’s follow through takes the bandit’s head off. 

Everything goes still, nothing but heavy breathing cutting through the even heavier silence. It is Jongdae who finally breaks the silence. “We shouldn’t linger.” 

“What about-” Chanyeol trails off when Xiumin shakes his head sadly. 

“Gone before he hit the ground.” Xiumin says trying to reassure his master. “I went to check him first, that’s why I wasn’t here when they attacked you, Chanyeol-ssi. I am sorry. Please, I must beg your forgiveness.”

“There is nothing to forgive.” Chanyeol reassures readily, knowing from years of friendship that Xiumin will take everything that has happened upon himself just like he had when they had been in China fighting for the emperor. “Check the horses so that we can be away.”

“I will help.” Jongdae begins but before he can really more the big man comes forward and sweeps him into a bone crushing hug. 

“You have protected my husband, there is no reward I will not grant you.” Chanyeol says holding the slim coachman at arm’s length and gazing at him with all sincerity. “Ask anything and you shall have it.”

Jongdae looks taken aback at such an offer, angular face contorted with confusion. “May I think on it?”

“Of course.” Chanyeol replies immediately letting his arms drop. “Whenever you decide, come to me and let me know.”

Jongdae turns then and goes to help Xiumin with the horses. In keeping with custom they bury the body of their fallen comrade under rocks and stones, the custom two fold in its usefulness. Not only will it mark where the body is so that in spring they can return and take it home for a proper burial on hallowed ground, but also the rocks will keep the varmints from getting at the body and scattering it to the four winds. 

“Are you alright?” Chanyeol asks gently turning his attention to Baekhyun who hasn’t moved from where he had been dragged by the bandit who lay dead behind him, a trail of his blood all down his back and splattered gruesomely across his cheek. 

Baekhyun doesn’t respond, he simply stares through Chanyeol’s great bulk, eyes wild with fright and what Chanyeol takes to be revulsion; nothing less than he feels he deserves, but somehow he had hoped – hoped against reason for something else. When after a few moments nothing is said and no move is made Chanyeol shakes himself, his sense returning to him and a purpose along with it. “We must away, I will ride atop with the others to keep an eye out.”

Nothing is said but Baekhyun nods, eyes dropping to linger on the wicked gash on Chanyeol’s forearm from elbow to wrist. His mouth opens as if words are stuck there, but almost immediately he closes it again, having thought better of it. Without saying a word he returns to the carriage and perches stiffly on the edge of one of the seats until he hears the loud ‘hyah!’ and feels the telltale rocking to let him know they are once again underway. When he is sure that they are going and that he will not be disturbed he curls up on the seat, pulling the now quite cold lap furs over him, and shivering into their softness. Great tears well in his eyes only to roll down his cheeks leaving tracks to freeze along his chilled skin. 

~*~

Due to heavy snow and worsening conditions they do not arrive at Chanyeol’s estate until late into the evening the next day. The manor house is shrouded in shadow when Baekhyun is roused from the carriage and ushered inside. The warmth that fills the house feels like fire on the skin after so many hours in the cold and although Baekhyun knows that the heat is necessary, the burn is painful against his skin. A kindly young man with a round face and the simple but clean clothes that mark a household servant comes forward cooing over the state of them and scolding Chanyeol for making such a foolish trip in the middle of winter. A stab of guilt – the first of many – slices through Baekhyun. Were it not for him, Chanyeol would have stayed safe in his keep, tucked away from the cold and snow and highwaymen in his cozy manor house. 

“Come,” Chanyeol says, a hand at Baekhyun’s elbow to guide him through the darkened passages. “Tomorrow I will show you the manor but for now you need to rest in proper warmth.”

Baekhyun gives a startled jerk at the cold touch to his elbow, a reminder of the harm he caused the elder. His eyes fall to the gash still adorned liberally with frozen dried blood and his heart constricts painfully knowing that the fault surely lies at his door. 

Hurt flashes across Chanyeol’s face upon seeing the conflict in the younger’s eyes. He knows he is revolting. A monster. A killer. The whole reason he had been reluctant to bring Baekhyun into his home and his life. The things he had done – the people he had killed. In his mind he had hoped to hide his monstrous nature from the other for as long as possible, to live in peace, but the highwaymen had put paid to that and his great secret was now out and on display. Quickly he withdraws his hand as if burned. “Kyungsoo will show you to your room.”

“M’lord, was he not to be with you?” Kyungsoo asks, brows drawn in confusion.

“No. Put him somewhere else.” Chanyeol responds gruffly turning on his heel and striding swiftly away, Baekhyun can only imagine to his own room, a room from which he suddenly finds himself barred. 

Kyungsoo stands stunned for just a moment but then one look at Baekhyun’s worried face and he’s shaking it off, directing the new lord to one of the guest rooms on the second floor. “This way, Baekhyun-ssi.”

“But his arm-” Baekhyun says finally finding his voice even though it comes out small and cracked with disuse. “He needs tending. He’s wounded.”

Kyungsoo shoots Baekhyun a sad look. “Chanyeol-ssi has had plenty of practice stitching himself up. He’ll be alright.”

Baekhyun feels a bit confused by that but allows Kyungsoo to lead him upstairs and to his own room. It is of good size, nothing huge, but spacious and clean with warm blankets and furs on the bed and a small fireplace of his own which Kyungsoo immediately goes to and begins to tend, building a fire to ward away the chill that creeps through the manor like rot on a dead tree. 

“Please do feel at home here, Baekhyun-ssi.” Kyungsoo says straightening up once he has a merry fire crackling in the grate. “Chanyeol-ssi...” He pauses here as if rethinking what he was planning to say, “He’s a good man. Let me know if you need anything, okay?”

The young man nods dumbly and watches him leave, the door swinging closed behind him. Exhausted in ways he didn’t know possible after sleeping a good portion of the trip, Baekhyun falls into bed, pulling the heavy quilts and furs over himself with a sigh. Too much had happened and he feels tears well in his eyes. He’s always been a fairly emotional and sensitive young man and the last couple of days have been too much for him. Chanyeol fetching him, watching more than one man die before his eyes, and then the hurt he had seen on Chanyeol’s face – a reflection of the physical pain he had caused the elder. It’s all too much and he sobs into his pillow for many long minutes, the soft weave of the cotton comforting him minimally as he thinks of his life and how it will be until at last he falls asleep.

~*~

Chanyeol doesn’t linger inside, choosing instead to go to the stable and help Jongdae and Xiumin tend the horses. He’s furious with the way things had gone, but fast on the heels of his fury is the overwhelming sadness that has cloaked him for years, shrouding him, strangling him. Rationally he knows that he had done his duty – the duty of a soldier and the duty of a soldier – but at times most inconvenient the images return and he is once again haunted by the image of torn flesh, the screams fresh, and he sinks inside his own mind, trapped in the darkness there. 

With the three of them it doesn’t take long to get the horses brushed down and fed, and Chanyeol finds he is at a loss after bidding his two faithful servants a good night. He wanders back to the manor, knowing that even within the keep it is not very safe to be out wandering at night. Order is well kept within the estate but even so there are those who would jump at the chance to get at the lord. 

“Is he situated?” Chanyeol asks Kyungsoo when he finally makes it back inside, making for the kitchen and whatever sustenance he can bribe his housekeeper to prepare for him. 

“Yes, M’lord.” Kyungsoo answers setting to cutting apples from the cellar and some cheese for the big man to heat. Nothing safe for the sound of knife slicing through tender fruit and clacking on the wooden board could be heard for a long time and Kyungsoo wondered if Chanyeol would spill on his own or if he would have to ask. 

“He’s afraid of me.” Chanyeol says at last, the need to confide in someone strong within him. He tells her about the highwaymen and the loss of their other driver. He spares no details, telling about the one bandit grabbing Baekhyun and how Jongdae saved the younger and how Xiumin had decapitated the one who sought to kill him. The story ends with how he had seen Baekhyun’s fear outside the carriage and then again when he had touched his elbow. 

Kyungsoo takes a deep steadying breath, trying to will away the fear for his lord as well as his friends at the retelling of the tale. He sets the food before the big man and then pulls the water he had brought to a boil from the fire, pouring a pot of tea for Chanyeol first and then mixing the rest with cooler water to make it a tolerable heat. “He might have been scared in the situation, and maybe even startled by the touch to his elbow, but he doesn’t fear you, M’lord.”

“How can you say that?” Chanyeol demands allowing him to soothe away the blood on his arm with a soft bit of toweling. 

“He is concerned for you. He asked after your arm, wanted to make sure you would be taken care of.” Kyungsoo explains pulling out the kit he keeps for first aid and removing a needle and thread. “Don’t give up hope so easily, Chanyeol-ssi.”

“Hope.” Chanyeol scoffs grimacing at the pierce and tug of the needle. “I haven’t had hope in so long I wouldn’t know what it feels like.” 

“It’s the feeling you get when you look at your husband.” Kyungsoo says gently, tying off his string efficiently. 

When Chanyeol finally makes it to bed that night his mind is spinning with all that Kyungsoo had told him. He is so observant, and he is truly grateful to know him. And although he is the lord he would call him a friend just as surely as he would Jongdae and Xiumin. Now lying here, thinking about what Kyungsoo had said about Baekhyun being concerned for him, scared of the situation but not him, he realizes that he does indeed know what hope feels like and it burns fiercely within him, hurting and healing simultaneously.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2. I didn't want to make you lovely readers wait over long for the next update so here it is. I'll try to keep updating every couple of weeks but please don't give up on me if it takes a little longer. I promise I will finish this story, it just might take a bit of time. Thank you! Comments are love!

Baekhyun awakens to light streaming through the window opposite his bed and warming his blankets. With a groan he stretches out, working the kinks from the long carriage ride from his muscles. As wakefulness returns to him he lets his mind roam over everything that happened, slightly less irrational than he had been the night before. And then Chanyeol fills his mind – his husband. What a strange thought. Up until now his husband has simply been an abstract concept he writes letters to but now he knows his husband is a tall imposing man with dark guarded eyes and a serious demeanor that tells Baekhyun the laughter he’s so fond of will be in short supply within his new home. He feels a bit in awe of him, a little frightened too, but mostly in awe. He had taken on those highwaymen by himself just to protect Baekhyun and had only stopped when he heart Baekhyun’s cry of distress. Something warm rises within him at the thought.

 

With a sigh he accepts that he needs to get up, the rumbling in his stomach confirming it. Rolling from the bed and pulling on his tunic he wonders if he could convince Kyungsoo to draw him a bath. He knows there are those who believe that a bath in winter will bring deadly illness, but Baekhyun has never believed such hokum and although he did manage to sponge away the worst of the blood that had bathed him, he would delight in being truly clean. He believes that the people who run around filthy and reeking of months’ worth of sweat and dirt are more likely to bring illness. He’s just pulling on his trousers when there is a knock at the door. Quickly he pads over to open it, finding Chanyeol on the other side, chiseled face a mask of exquisite hope and adorable shyness. “Hello.”

 

“Good morning.” Chanyeol greets holding his tray before him like a child would a toy. “I thought we could break the fast together and since I didn’t know if you were awake or not I thought I would bring the meal to you.”

 

Baekhyun thinks he looks adorable, all shy and eager and bumbling at the same time and suddenly he realizes that although Chanyeol is the older, between his lessons and then the military they are about on par for experience with relationships. That is to say, neither really has any clue how to go about building their marriage at all. Baekhyun isn’t delusional, he assumes that Chanyeol has had sex and although he’ll admit that he’s curious about the physical side of marriage he is also nervous and therefore glad that Chanyeol doesn’t appear as of yet to be in any hurry to rush him to the marriage bed. “Thank you. That would be lovely.”

 

Baekhyun guides Chanyeol to the small table and comfortably overstuffed chairs that are arranged before the fireplace. The flames had burned down in the night, but the coals remain, giving off just the right amount of warmth. He hovers a bit as Chanyeol sets the tray down, unsure of himself or what he should do. Should he play host since it is technically his room? That doesn’t quite feel right. The house is Chanyeol’s, every bit of it. Awkwardly he sits down, perched stiffly at the edge of his chair as he would have sat before his father. The thought sinks it’s claws in and turns sour in his mind. He doesn’t want Chanyeol to be like his father at all. And the idea of them having a relationship like the one he had with his father makes him feel pensive and maudlin.

 

“Why did you really come and get me?” Baekhyun asks not believing what the other had told him about their belonging together as husbands. If that were true then why hadn’t Chanyeol come and gotten him that much sooner?

 

“I told you-” Chanyeol begins only to be cut off by the younger.

 

“My father contacted you, didn’t he?” Baekhyun presses finding boldness from where he doesn’t know, young heart burning with the intensity to know.

 

“I-” Chanyeol freezes, frustration washing over him. This is not what he had intended when he suggested breakfast. “Don’t ask questions you don’t want to know the answers to.”

 

Fire flashes in Baekhyun’s eyes. His mother had always said that his temper is too quick but he can’t seem to stop himself. “And if I do want to know? Why do you bother with this face, Chanyeol-ssi when you and I both know you do not want me here? Why bother with breakfast and claiming my father did not force you to fetch me? You do not want me any more than he does, that was evident when you barred me from your room last night.”

 

“What do you want me to say, Baekhyun? You are right. I do not want you here and would not have claimed you at all had your father not insisted upon it.” Chanyeol says mercilessly standing up from his seat, nearly knocking over their little table. “I do not want you as a husband. I do not want you here at all.”

 

Tears well in Baekhyun’s eyes are the harsh words but he hardens himself against them. “Then pretend I’m not. That’s what my father did.”

 

“Perhaps I shall.” Chanyeol snarls turning on his heel to leave the room, slamming the portal shut behind him both on the room and on Baekhyun’s young and bitter heart.

 

~*~

 

The next several days are spent in uncomfortable silence, the couple avoiding each other whenever possible. The only time they ever stay in the same room for any amount of time is during meals which are passed in a silence so frigid it makes the winter storms that beat against the manor walls seem like an August breeze.

 

So it is, a week after he had come to live with Chanyeo, Baekhyun retires to his room following dinner with the promise of hot water for a bath shortly. He looks forward to a long soak to ease the tension that not only strains the household but also his shoulders and neck. He hasn’t slept well since that first exhausted night and the wear of everything is beginning to show signs in his sore muscles and sagging dark circles under his eyes.

 

The servants inhabiting the house are pleasant enough, seeing to his every need with efficiency and care, but the fact is that his presence has upset their master; an ultimately unforgivable occurrence. And since a part of him is half-hoping for an annulment he doesn’t see any reason to disabuse them of their notions of his nature since he has on more than one occasion heard them speaking of his arrogance and conceited pride to come here and slight their master so ungratefully. But of them all Kyungsoo is genuinely kind, offering to go out of his way to assist his master’s husband and even bawling out the other servants under his charge for their loose tongues and vicious words.

 

‘After the water is delivered Baekhyun sinks into the steaming tub with a sigh of blissful relief only to have it smashed to bits moments later when the door to his room crashes open, a flustered Chanyeol standing in the portal. With a squeak he sinks deeper into the water, covering himself in terror.

 

Without really seeing what he is walking into Chanyeol advances into the room and closes the door behind himself, growling low in his throat, the anger that has built in him over the last seven days finally coming to a boiling point. Yelping in shock Baekhyun rushes to cover himself, a great wave of water splashing out with his quick movements.

 

“What are you doing?” He all but shrieks, clutching his now drenched bit of toweling to him.

 

“I don’t want to pretend you’re not here!” Chanyeol barks round on the younger without really seeing him. “I had my reasons for not wanting to bring you here but you are now and we must make the best of it.”

 

“And I don’t want to be made the best of!” Baekhyun hisses standing up with another violent splash, the towel he’s clinging to with a death grip maintaining his modesty, but he can tell when Chanyeol finally realizes what he’s intruding on as the big man’s eyes go wide with shock and his cheeks pink with embarrassment. Unfortunately for him, Baekhyun is too angry to feel modest now. “I am your husband. Not chattel to be used and dealt with when bored.”

 

“You forget your place.” Chanyeol growls embarrassment forgotten in light of Baekhyun’s cutting words.

 

“I forget nothing.” Baekhyun snarls right back. He’s trembling like a leaf in a strong breeze but he forces himself to face the other, implying nothing will be forgotten or for that matter, forgiven. “Were it not for my fever as a child I would be no different than you save for the fact that I would under no circumstances treat my wife with the soft of disregard that you have bestowed upon me!”

 

“You are my property!” Chanyeol tells him coldly, throwing the only barb he knows will have deep affect. “I paid for you, a fact which my steward reminded me otherwise I would have left things as they were. But he reminded me that if I paid for you I may as well have use of you.”

 

Baekhyun gasps in pain. Indeed he is shocked by Chanyeol’s crass words but he is more injured by the dislike and implication of his only use. “Get out of my room.”

 

“This is my house!” Chanyeol shoots back, still too angry to see the line he had crossed.

 

“And this is my room.” Baekhyun returns angrily. “If I am to be here as your whore I will at least retain the privacy of this chamber.”

 

“If you are indeed my whore then there should be nowhere for you to avoid me.” Chanyeol hisses moving forward with menacing grace, not stopping even when Baekhyun stumbles from the tub to leave a trail of water until he comes up short against one side of the fireplace. “If you were really my whore you would be willing. Where is your willingness, Baekhyunn?”

 

No words come to Baekhyun. He is cornered and terrified, the fight draining from him with every step they take until he is left shaking and trembling wrapped in a sodden cloth and shivering before his husband who looks ready to force him against his well. His teeth chatter, heart pounding, a look of pure horror in his huge eyes.

 

“What’s the matter?” Chanyeol snarls mercilessly, injured pride blinding him to all but his own perceived injustices so that he sees none of the terror written clearly on Baekhyun’s face. “I thought this was what you wanted?” He presses on, boxing Baekhyun in and leaning a hand on the wall on either side of Baekhyun’s head. “I thought you wanted a true marriage.”

 

“Get away from me!” Baekhyun yells shoving Chanyeol away when the taller looms close. “I will not be treated thus! You claim this is to be my home and yet you treat me like a dog! I will not tolerate this!”

 

“You will tolerate whatever I wish you to!” Chanyeol returns lurching forward when Baekhyun tries to edge past him. The move upends Baekhyun’s balance and they fall together across Baekhyun’s mattress, the towel slipping so that it just barely covers where Baekhyun clutches desperately to it with white knuckles. “I am your husband.”

 

Words fail Baekhyun. He lays there, curled in on himself for protection, a terrified sob followed by several more ripping from his throat. His heart beats out a merciless tattoo and his breathing comes in tight little puffs, too fast to draw oxygen. Darkness flickers in spots along his vision and he is so tense his muscles scream at him.

 

What makes Chanyeol pause, he doesn’t know, but in that tiny moment he sees Baekhyun’s terror and panic and his heart freezes within him. What is he doing? He pushes away, standing for a moment looking down at Baekhyun, his look of confusion translating poorly so that Baekhyun thinks he looks more furious than ever as he stares up at the other with huge frightened eyes until Chanyeol finally leaves, practically fleeing the room. As the door slams shut Baekhyun falls apart, crumbling where he lay, sobbing and trembling until he falls into an exhausted sleep.

 

Some time later he wakes up, shaking with cold, muscles sore from the tension that hadn’t left him, not even in sleep. His sodden towel is tangled around him, making the chill even worse, sinking deep into his bones and making him feel as if he’ll never be warm again. Knowing he needs to move he pushes himself up, muscles protesting the use as he slowly gets dressed and then stokes the fire. When he goes to crawl back into bed he is dismayed to discover the mattress soaked through and frigid from his wet toweling. Sighing he relocates to one of the chairs by the fire, dragging the lone dry blanket from the rack to wrap around himself as he curls in the mammoth chair, eyes growing heavy once again with weariness even as they periodically dart to the door to make sure it is still closed and he is still indeed alone.

 

~*~

 

When morning comes Baekhyun wakes stiff and tired. His neck hurts terribly and his stomach aches. How can he go and face Chanyeol after what happened? He can’t. When a knock sounds at his door he practically scampers behind his chair for protection before calling entrance to the person on the other side of the portal. Kyungsoo comes in, eyes wide at the mess in Baekhyun’s room. “What happened, Baekhyun-ssi?”

 

“I-” He doesn’t know what to say. I was attacked by my husband? No, that doesn’t seem right. But what excuse could he give for the state of his room and his trembling which he is sure is visible even from the other side of the room. “Chanyeol-ssi visited me last night.”

 

“I see.” Kyungsoo nods to himself, seeing so much more than Baekhyun is telling him. So Chanyeol finally snapped and confronted Baekhyun. And it appears he had done a splendid job of it, scaring the living daylights out of the young man in the process. More’s the pity. “I’m afraid I’ll need you to clear the room for a bit so we can get this cleaned up. I’ll need to have the servants come and remove the tub and wet things and then replace the mattress so this one can dry.”

 

“But where will I go?” Baekhyun asks, voice tiny. When Kyungsoo looks at him with questions in his eyes he flushes crimson and drops his own to the floor.

 

“This is your home, Baekhyun-ssi. You may go about as you please.” He says gently.

 

Baekhyun sighs. Of course Kyungsoo would see it that way. He is a man of high birth after all, he should be able to go about as he pleases but in this case he is more the mistress of the house and the master has made it clear he is an unwanted mistress to boot.

 

~*~

 

Chanyeol curses as he tugs his heavy furs to cover him, venturing out into the cold night as frigid flakes swirl in his wake, anything to stop the pounding in his head. How could he have been so stupid? Every move he’s made regarding Baekhyun has ended like a canon mortar to the face. He kicks at a clump of sow. Curse this winter! And curse his damn husband!

 

Every interaction with his husband has gone terribly awry. How is he supposed to fix this? If only it were summer. He would gladly pay any sum to simply be rid of the other. An annulment would no doubt set Baekhyun’s heart to singing and then he could return to his unhappy little world. Alone. As it should be. But the winter has frozen everything. Travel of that length is impossible and by the time the snow thaws it will be too late, no one would believe that their marriage is unconsummated.

 

The creak fo the barn door welcomes him before Xiumin and Jongdae’s voices. They are talking amicably between themselves as they brush and sooth the horses. Upon seeing their lord however, they turn and doff their caps, both sweeping into respectful bows though Jongdae’s is the lower of the two.

 

“Be at peace.” Chanyeol tells them, his ire melting away with the cold. The absurdity of his station strikes him. An accident of birth is the only thing that put him in the big house while these two occupy the barn. Oh how grateful he would be if he could have such a simple life. Their biggest fear is for him to refuse their union, which he will not, though he knows Jongdae is waiting for the perfect time to ask. He heaves a sigh. “Have you anything to drink?”

 

“Aye.” Jongdae says straightening up and moving from the stall. It is but ale, but on a night like tonight it will chase away the cold.”

 

“I thank you.” Chanyeol says taking the tankard and drinking deep. He offers it back to Jongdae who takes a small drink and then passes it over to Xiumin.

 

“What has you out so late, my lord?” Xiumin asks passing the tankard once again to the big man. “The night is chill; there is naught that should drive a man out in this.”

 

“I am a fool.” Chanyeol admits, voice deep and growly with his own shame. “I tell you this in confidence, my friends. I know not how to be a husband to Baekhyun. He is afraid of me and I wish it were truthful to tell you I knew not the reason but that would surely be a lie.”

 

“Why do you confide in us?” Jongdae asks in bewilderment, not on the same level of familiarity with the lord of the keep as his lover is. “What aid can we give you?”

 

Taking a deep drink to steady himself, Chanyeol knows his answer will leave all involved a little uncomfortable. “Because you have a functional relationship. How do I achieve that?”

 

Jongdae’s mouth swings open and he begins to protest but Xiumin lays a hand on his arm and he falls silent immediately. “You’re not mad at us, dear friend?”

 

Chanyeol shakes his head. “No. I have no anger. I had hoped when I offered Jongdae anything he wished that he would ask for permission to marry you. There is no anger. Right now I am but a man at fault who seeks your advice.”

 

“I planned to ask.” Jongdae admits taking a swig from the tankard to calm his own nerves. “I was just waiting for the right moment.”

 

“You have my blessing.” Chanyeol tells him quietly, a humbleness about him that would have served him well around Baekhyun.

 

“We thank you.” Xiumin says with great emotion, never having been one to hide what feelings are in him. “What causes this rift between you and your husband?”

 

Chanyeol sighs and rakes a hand through his hair. “I wish I could say it was all him but that would be a lie. I have caused him great fear. My anger has made a fool of me again.”

 

“And you feel you have caused too much harm to mend?” Jongdae asks shapely brows drawn in concern as he tries to understand the situation.

 

“Indeed I do.”

 

“Your husband he may be, but you must woo him, Kangin-ssi.” Jongdae tells him gently. “In the summer there is rare a day I do not give Xiumin flowers to show I care. He pretends he does not like them, but regardless of his words the action still garners me the most tender of kisses.”

 

“You are a love-sick buffoon.” Xiumin tells his lover, cheeks flushing deep pink. “It is not the flowers that woo me, it is the sweet gesture. You must learn to talk to him without anger. And to treat him gently. He has been raised as a woman. For him it is a different world entirely that you have brought him to. All is new. Make him feel at ease. Safe. Cared for. See to his needs first and his heart will follow.”

 

“And I am the one who is love sick.” Jongdae scoffs good naturedly.

 

“I do not know how.” Chanyeol admits. “Too long have I wandered alone, lost in my thoughts.”

 

“Too long you’ve been lost in the past.” Xiumin corrects gently. “Let it go. You will e happier for it if you do.”

 

“Again, I do not know how. But I will give the matter great thought.” Chanyeol promises finally handing back the now empty tankard. If the buzz at the back of his skull is any indication the drink has served at least some of its purpose. “I will leave you in peac, friends. I thank you again for all you have done and continue to do for me.”

 

“We wish you the best.” Xiumin tells him sincerely. “It is an honor to serve you.”

 

~*~

 

Chanyeol spends the rest of the night in his study getting good and drunk. Memories barrage him, cutting through his defenses as surely as a blade would do to his flesh. The alcohol that flows freely down his thraot with every tip of his hand is the only thing to dull the images that flash before him. Blood soaked battle fields. A man cut down by his sword. A friend in agony. Baekhyun scared. No, not scared. Terrified.

 

He wakes sometime in the early morning to the creak of the door, a muffled gasp, and then the responding click as the door closes again. Shaking his dizzy and heavy head he tries to focus bleary eyes, seeing only the raven head of his husband as the door follows in his wake. What had he been doing here?

 

~*~

 

Baekhyun curses himself. If only he knew the manor better, he would not have mistaken Chanyeol’s study for one of the salons he had seen on the brief tour Kyungsoo had given him on his second day. His muscles tremble as he tries another door, praying there are no servants within. Luck is with him though because he opens the door to find the room beyond quite empty, books lining the shelves all working towards an array of comfortable seating and a mammoth fire place. A library. Good, this will do nicely.

 

Briefly he considers finding a book to read but he doesn’t think he can get his mind to focus enough for reading and so he curls himself onto a settee before the fire and stares blankly into the flames, angling himself so he can see the door as well. Such fear should have no presence in his own home but still it weighs on him heavily. This isn’t his home anyway. It’s a prison contrived by his father and his husband, punishment for being a failure of a son. A tear slides down his cheek and he brushes at it harshly. What had he done to deserve this? What great sin had he committed to be damned to this hell?

 

The long night before and the warmth of flame lull him into a fitful sleep. His thoughts send him off with memories of fever dreams and heartless marriages as he lets his head fall restlessly onto the arm of the settee.

 

“Baekhyun?”

 

The low voice calling his name pulls him from his sleep with a start and Baekhyun looks around with bleary eyes that widen in fear when he sees his husband standing in the doorway, a question painted on his face. A small sound of shock leaves his lips but he does not move, frozen in his place.

 

“Baekhyun? Are you alright? Had you come looking for me in my study?” Chanyeol asks his resolve from the night before confirmed with every throb of his pounding hung-over head. Hope swells in his chest, a great balloon filled to bursting at the thought of his husband searching him out, even as he knows deep in his heart that nothing of that sort is likely to happen any time soon.

 

“No-” Baekhyun answers meaning that he hadn’t gone looking for Chanyeol but the double meaning remains accurate all the same. “I- I was- I was looking for a salon or- or someplace I could go while Kyungsoo cleans my room.”

 

Chanyeol feels as if he’s been slapped. He hadn’t though about the impact his rage would have beyond Baekhyun’s fear of him. Blinking quickly he tries to dispel his thoughts. He cannot dwell on the past, only move on from here. “I am sorry for that.

 

Baekhyun knows he should respond but his tongue feels stuck to the roof of his mouth and so he just sits there and tries to control his trembling, eyes sliding shut momentarily only to snap back open again to make sure the big man hadn’t moved from his place by the door. After what feels like an eternity he offers his thanks for the apology, but when Chanyeol advances another step into the room he can’t stop himself from trying to sink as far as humanly possible into the cushions.

 

“Please-” Chanyeol comes up short, voice strangled with emotion as his hands come up in an offering of peace. “Please, I will not hurt you.”

 

“I-” Baekhyun sucks in a great steadying breath, eyes flicking between the big man and the door. “I have no desire to anger you but I have no proof of that.”

 

Chanyeol rakes a hand through his hair in frustration. “I’m trying.”

 

“I can see that.” Baekhyun says rearranging himself so that he can stand and make a break for the door if need be. “You- you said you do not wish to be- to have me here. Could- I mean- would it be possible to have an annulment?”

 

The balloon of hope that had begun to grow in Chanyeol’s chest burst as quickly as it had come, his face hardening. What a fool he was to hope. “I am afraid that is impossible.”

 

“But why?” Baekhyun asks with all the ignorance of his youth and the sheltered upbringing he hadd had, the hope within him refusing to die just yet.

 

“Because it is.” Chanyeol says with finality, standing abruptly. He quails slightly when Baekhyun recoils again but his pride refuses to let him retract. Seeing no need to explain to the younger Chanyeol shakes his head. “I was a fool to think there could be anything but animosity between us. You no more want to be ehre than I want you here. All the same, the marriage is final. There will be no annulment.”

 

Baekhyun watches, breath caught in his throat as the other spins on his heel and stalks from the room, no doubt in search of a little hair of the dog that bit him to rid him of his hangover as well as his foul mood. He blinks in confusion. If Chanyeol doesn’t want him here then why refuse the annulment? Why put them both through such a painful arrangement?

 

~*~

 

Woo him, Chanyeol thinks bitterly. How? He can hardly speak to the other without it turning into a fight. It stings his pride that Baekhyun is so desperate to be away. No matter what he had done to deserve such treatment and fear, the evidence of it strikes him deeply. And what of him? Did he want Baekhyun there anymore than the man wanted to be there himself? At that moment he really didn’t know.

 

Shaking his sore head he stalks off in the direction of his war room, a long bit of sparring with one of his vassals would do him good. If nothing else, the exercise will keep his mind off things for a while.

 

~*~

 

Baekhyun stays in the library all day. He looks up hopefully when Kyungsoo comes in to tell him that lunch is ready but declines the meal when the housekeeper tells him that his room won’t be ready for a couple more hours. He stays in the library so long he almost feels comfortable in the room, staring at the spines of the books that are so rare and hard to produce and yet here he has an entire library at his disposal. He wonders at it, trying to figure out how Chanyeol could afford to have such a collection but no answers are forthcoming and he eventually lets the matter mentally drop.

 

Halfway through the morning the scratch in his throat starts to become truly uncomfortable and by mid afternoon his nose has joined in and a small cough has started as well. By the time Kyungsoo comes to btell him dinner is ready he’s in pretty bad shape. His nose is streaming and he feels like he’s burning up, lungs tight and itchy in his chest, throat on fire.

 

“Baekhyun-ssi?” Kyungsoo says poking his head in the library. He’s prepared to beg to get Baekhyun to eat, knowing he hasn’t had anything since the night before and that even that had been so minuscule a mouse couldn’t live off of it. “Dinner is ready, Sir.”

 

Baekhyun looks up with burning eyes, trying to get his vision to focus on the housekeeper but his eyes aren’t cooperating. He blinks a few times but gives it up as a bad job, sniffles once, and then rests his head on his arms. “I’m not hungry, Kyungsoo.”

 

“You need to eat, Sir.” Kyungsoo says coming into the room a little more fully. He gets a proper look at Baekhyun and concern rockets through him. Rushing forward he drops down in front of Baekhyun’s chair, gently pressing a couple of fingers against Baekhyun’s forehead, concern turning into alarm at how hot Baekhyun’s skin feels. “You’re burning up. When did this start?”

 

“This morning maybe?” Baekhyun says but he’s not sure. He’s having a hard time getting his brain to work right, barely able to focus on Kyungsoo’s words.

 

“C’mon. Let’s get you to your room.” Kyungsoo says looping one of Baekhyun’s arms over his shoulders so he can help him up. They manage to get upright but as soon as they try to take a step Baekhyun is faltering and his knees give out, nearly sending both men to the floor. Carefully Kyungsoo lowers Baekhyun back down to the plush chair, knowing there’s no way he’s going to be able to get the other man all the way to his bedroom on his own. “Wait here. I’ll be right back.”

 

He leaves then, hurrying down the stairs to the great hall where he knows Chanyeol has already started eating dinner. Once in view of others he slows his pace and schools his features so as not to insight alarm or gossip in the household, going directly to Chanyeol’s place at the head of the table so he can lean low and explain his need to him. Alarm registers on Chanyeol’s face and then he’s pushing to his feet, not even bothering to let Kyungsoo lead the way but taking the stairs to the library two at a time. He pulls up short once he’s inside the library and can see Baekhyun curled up in nearly the exact same spot he had left him in this morning. His husband appears to be asleep but even from the door Chanyeol can see the flush high on Baekhyun’s cheeks and he instinctively knows that his skin will be hot with fever.

 

“Baekhyun?” He tries coming forward and getting down low in front of the other, not wanting to alarm him.

 

“I’m really not hungry, Kyungsoo.” Baekhyun says in a tired voice, eyes not even opening. He shifts restlessly, even his skin feels like it hurts. “I don’t feel very good.”

 

Worry swirls heavy and thick in Chanyeol’s chest. He reaches out and presses a hand to Baekhyun’s forehead, alarmed by how hot his skin feels but more so by the fact that Baekhyun didn’t realize that it’s him in front of him and not Kyungsoo. “C’mon, let’s get you to your room.”

 

Baekhyun doesn’t say or even do anything when he feels someone looping his arm over their shoulders and trying to coax him to stand up. His brain isn’t connecting with the rest of him and his legs won’t work so he just sags between this person and the chair, wishing he were less uncomfortable. “I’m sorry, Soo. I can’t seem to make my legs work.”

 

“I’m gonna pick you up, okay?” Chanyeol says redoubling his grip around Baekhyun’s shoulders and shifting to place his other arm under the other man’s knees. “C’mon, hold on to me now.”

 

“No, Soo. I’m too heavy-.” Baekhyun mumbles, head lolling to the side weakly. Where had all his energy gone? He feels utterly drained and empty but he forces his eyes to open, trying to focus on the man supporting him. His vision is blurry and his eyes are burning but even so he can tell that isn’t Kyungsoo. Summoning all his energy he pushes weakly at the man’s chest, voice small and brittle as he tries to protest. “Let me go. Kyungsoo!”

 

“It’s okay, Baek.” Kyungsoo says stepping forward so he is in the other man’s line of sight. “It’s okay. Chanyeol-ssi is just going to help you get back to your room.”

 

“No-” What little energy Baekhyun had found dwindles quickly and he sags limply, trying to summon a little more fight but all he manages are a few tired tears rolling hotly down his dry cheeks. “No-”

 

“Just do it.” Kyungsoo says to Chanyeol, seeing the master’s hesitation. “We need to get him back to his room.”

 

Chanyeol nods and lifts up, sweeping Baekhyun’s legs out from under him and taking his full weight through his arms, cradling him close to his chest so the sick man’s head rests against his shoulder. “Go ahead of us, Kyungsoo and get the bed ready.”

 

He doesn’t need to be told twice. Walking quickly he leaves the library, making sure the door stays ajar behind him so that Chanyeol won’t have to fight with it as he follows more slowly with his burden. His heart goes out to his master, knowing that none of this has gone according to plan. He only hopes they’ll be able to help Baekhyun and get him better so they can have a second chance.

 

Behind him Chanyeol follows more slowly, knowing that even Baekhyun’s skin is likely to be sensitive with such a high fever. Every step he takes draws a whimper or weak protest from Baekhyun’s lips that breaks his heart. He has to steel his resolve and press on, knowing that bed is the best place for the sick man. After what feels like an eternity he reaches Baekhyun’s room and can lay him down on the bed, alarm rising again when Baekhyun whimpers at the feel of the sheets. He shifts his hold to Baekhyun’s hand when it moves listlessly against the sheets, squeezing his fingers reassuringly. “Shhh. It’s okay. You’re gonna be okay.”

 

Baekhyun doesn’t respond, he just coughs weakly and shifts restlessly against the pillows. His head is throbbing and he feels as if he’s burning up from the inside out. The only thing he can focus on is the hand in his. He grips it as if his life depends on it, whimpering with every pained breath.

 

“Kyungsoo, he’s burning up.” Chanyeol says, looking pleadingly at his housekeeper for help. “What do we do?”

 

“Fevers aren’t necessarily a bad thing.” Kyungsoo says hovering close so he can check on Baekhyun’s status. He doesn’t want to admit it but the speed with which Baekhyun declined is scaring him but the panic he sees in his lord’s eyes is alarming in and of itself and he would lie through his teeth if it meant wiping that look off his face. He’s seen Chanyeol face threats on his life without batting an eye but here he is, utterly beside himself with concern for his husbands health. “Sometimes they just help burn the sickness out.”

 

“The whole reason he’s married to me is because a fever nearly killed him when he was a child.” Chanyeol says, voice dull.

 

“I will stay with him.” Kyungsoo assures the other, knowing that it is weak reassurance but it’s all he can offer. “I won’t rest until the fever breaks.”

 

“And then you’ll get sick.” Chanyeol shakes his head. “No. You must rest, my friend.”

 

“I am nowhere near tired.” Kyungsoo dismisses but he knows he needs to leave the room at least long enough to get some supplies from the kitchen. “I will be right back and then you can go back to your dinner.”

 

“I’m not leaving.” Chanyeol says taken aback. He settles his bulk on the edge of the bed, wincing when Baekhyun shifts uncomfortably with the movement and lets out a pained whimper.

 

“You have to take care of yourse-”

 

“Then bring my dinner here.” Chanyeol says cutting the other off with gentle firmness. “I am not leaving.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N:  The treatments described in this chapter were used historically although I do not know if they were ever used in Asia.  Please please please DO NOT ever submerge someone experiencing a fever in ice water.  This is extremely dangerous and potentially harmful.  

“You need to sleep, m’lord.” Kyungsoo says in a gentle voice the next morning when he brings Chanyeol his breakfast in Baekhyun’s room. 

“His fever is worse than ever.” Chanyeol says wiping at Baekhyun’s brow with a cool cloth. “We’ve got to bring this down.”

“Let me sit with him a while.” Kyungsoo tries, concerned for both his master and his husband. “I will tend to him. Please, Chanyeol-ssi, you need to rest.”

“How can I rest when he is hurting?” Chanyeol asks looking at Kyungsoo with haunted eyes. “This is my fault, you know. If I-” He cuts off, voice choked. “If’s solve nothing. The facts remain, I caused this. I will not rest until the fever breaks.”

Kyungsoo’s heart aches for the regret he sees on Chanyeol’s face. “You are no good to him if you become ill yourself, m’lord. Please, let me sit with him.”

“No.” Chanyeol denies with a tired shake of his head, there is no heat in his voice but his word is final. 

Knowing he’ll never win this argument Kyungsoo sets down the tray on a small table next to Chanyeol, eyeballs the still full tray with Chanyeol’s dinner from the night before, and goes around to the other side of the bed so he can check Baekhyun himself. With tender hands he turns Baekhyun’s head from side to side, gently peeling up his eyelids to peer into his eyes, and then laying one hand on his cheek to test his temperature, feeling like the worst person on earth when the sick man just groans weakly and shifts restlessly against the pillows. He is indeed burning up and alarm courses through Kyungsoo for the hundredth time. “I’ve never seen a fever so high.” 

“There’s got to be something we can do.” Chanyeol says, tone desperate. 

“I’ve got an idea.” Kyungsoo says, chewing on his bottom lip. “It’s not gonna be pleasant but it might be our only chance.”

“What is it?” Chanyeol looks up at him, questions written all over his face. 

“I’ve heard of putting people in a cold bath- there’s no knowing if it will work or just hurt him.” Kyungsoo says not sure of anything right now. “It might be our only chance though.”

Chanyeol’s eyes slide shut as he thinks this through. “If we don’t break the fever will he- how long would we have to make our decision?”

It hurts knowing what Chanyeol was going to say. Because if they don’t break the fever then he has no doubt that Baekhyun will die. “I don’t know.” He says but then he thinks about how bloodshot Baekhyun’s eyes are and how mottled his skin looks. “Not long. The sooner we decide the better.”

Silence reigns supreme for a long minute and then Chanyeol opens his eyes, looking down at Baekhyun as if his unconscious face holds the answers. “Do it.”

~*~

Chanyeol has never felt so horrible as when he lowers Baekhyun into the ice bath. The little man is so out of it that he barely even stirs when he picks him up, head lolling back weakly, but then the moment his body touches the ice his eyes fly open wide and a thin cry leaves his lips, muscles contracting so that he clenches weakly at Chanyeol’s broad shoulders. Steeling himself to do what he must Chanyeol lowers Baekhyun carefully, completely submerging him in the tub filled to the brim with water and ice. “Shh. It’s okay. I’m so sorry.”

“Let him sit for a minute, you can remove your arms.” Kyungsoo tells Chanyeol, unsurprised when the lord of the keep simply squats down and keeps his arms around Baekhyun, allowing the smaller man to clutch at his shoulders while he holds him tight inside the water, arms quickly starting to tingle with the cold. 

“How long must he endure this?” Chanyeol asks looking up at Kyungsoo in question. He tries to block out the whimpers falling from Baekhyun’s lips and the way his clawing hands slowly become weaker and weaker but his heart breaks knowing he’s the one causing Baekhyun such horrible pain. 

“Just long enough to lower his core temperature.” Kyungsoo says coming forward and laying a hand on Baekhyun’s forehead. “He’s still so warm. I’m afraid we’ll have to give it another minute or two.”

Gritting his teeth Chanyeol just nods. He’s well aware that it’s very possible they are too late, that this last ditch attempt might be the thing that kills Baekhyun after all. He waits like that, arms submerged in the water with Baekhyun’s shivering form until at last Kyungsoo tells him to pull him out. Relief floods his limbs only to turn to cold dread when Baekhyun’s shivering only doubles. 

“I need you to hold him up while I change his clothes.” Kyungsoo says not bothering to wait for a response before stripping Baekhyun’s shirt off over his head, trusting Chanyeol to shift with him to get the job done. He makes quick work of Baekhyun’s clothes, peeling them off the sick man’s shaking frame. As he works he pays attention to the paleness of his skin and the sharp jut of his hip and collar bones. If they manage to get through this fever then he’s going to feed Baekhyun anything and everything the kid will possibly stomach and put a little meat on his bones. Scooping up a piece of toweling he rubs over his wet skin in brisk little swipes, hardening his heart when Baekhyun whimpers and tries weakly to shimmy away from the brusque drying. 

“You’re hurting him.” Chanyeol accuses curling his arms so that Baekhyun is cradled a little closer to his chest. 

“I’ve got to get him dry.” Kyungsoo says glancing up at Chanyeol and quickly regretting it when he sees the hurt in the tall man’s eyes. It’s been absolutely heartbreaking watching Chanyeol process his husband’s illness. “There. Put him on the bed. We’ll get him dressed and then we’ll need to get him warm again.”

“We just cooled him down.” Chanyeol says incredulously but he does as he’s told all the same. 

“Yes.” Kyungsoo agrees knowing the logic doesn’t quite follow but that this is what he knows to be the best course of action. “We broke the fever but now we can’t let him get too cold.” He hands Chanyeol a loose shirt. “Here, help me get him dressed.”

It feels backwards and upside down but Chanyeol gently works one sleeve of the shirt over Baekhyun’s arms and then pulls it over his head, looping his other arm through before lifting his shoulders and pulling the shirt down smooth in back. “Now what?”

Kyungsoo shakes his head. “Now we wait. I’m going to go make sure the kitchen has lots of broth ready for if-” He stops abruptly and rewords, flushing bright red, “When. When he wakes up.” 

“What should I do?” Chanyeol feels utterly lost, adrift in the uncharted sea of worry. 

“You should sleep, M’lord.” Kyungsoo says gently, knowing he’s beating a dead horse but if there’s any chance that Chanyeol will listen to him he’s gonna keep pressing. “Or barring that you should at least put on dry clothes.” 

“I can’t leave him-” 

“Then don’t.” Kyungsoo cuts him off, unable to take the pain in the other man’s face any longer. He flicks a glance around the room, searching for the right words before settling back on the lord of the keep. “Warmth is important now. I’ll bring you a fresh change of clothes and then you can keep him warm. And if you get a little rest in the process, then that’s all the better.”

“Surely you can’t mea-”

“Indeed I do.” Kyungsoo cuts him off again. “You might even find he rests easier for it.”

“But what if-” Chanyeol pauses and rakes a frustrated hand through his hair. “What if I hurt him?”

Kyungsoo looks at him and the look holds so much faith and understanding that it nearly robs him of breath and he knows they’re not just talking about right now. “You won’t.”

~*~

When Kyungsoo checks on them several hours later he pulls up short, amazed that Chanyeol had indeed taken his advice and crawled into bed next to Baekhyun. It’s obvious from how they’re laying that Chanyeol had put as much distance as possible between them but even in sleep Baekhyun seems drawn to the larger man, body turned on its side so that he’s cuddled along Chanyeol’s side. As quietly as possible Kyungsoo pads over to the bed, reaching out with gentle fingers to test Baekhyun’s temperature, hope rising steadily when the young man’s skin doesn’t immediately burn his fingers but is instead merely warm. 

He slips out of the room as quietly as he came, planning to go back to the kitchen and check on the broth he had started earlier. When Baekhyun wakes up he’s going to put Chanyeol to work feeding the young man as much broth as he can hold. Maybe if he works with Chanyeol’s stubbornness he can help facilitate healing not only for Baekhyun’s health but for their marriage as well. 

~*~

“You need to eat.” Chanyeol says for what feels like the hundredth time as he holds out a spoonful of broth for Baekhyun to take. He watches in concern as his husband just turns his head away and slumps weakly against the pillows. 

“I’m not hungry.”

“You need to eat.” Chanyeol repeats, following the move with the spoon. “Try just a little.”

“I already did.” Baekhyun argues glaring tiredly at the spoon.

“Five sips is not enough.” Chanyeol counters persistently, holding the spoon right up against Baekhyun’s lips. 

Baekhyun wants to argue but he doesn’t have the energy. He thinks tiredly that maybe he’ll appeal to Kyungsoo when the housekeeper comes back but then he remembers that Chanyeol is being this persistent on Kyungsoo’s orders and he knows he will find no quarter there. Without the strength to argue he just sips weakly at the broth, fighting the flash of nausea when the warm liquid touches his tongue. 

“Good.” Chanyeol praises immediately refilling the spoon and extending it all over again. “Now one more.”

“No.” Baekhyun shifts restlessly. “No more.”

“One more.” Chanyeol insists.

“No that’s what you said last time.”

“No, last time I said just a little more.” Chanyeol corrects biting his lip to hide his smile. This is the longest they’ve spent in each other’s presence without actually fighting and he finds that even though Baekhyun is horribly weak he enjoys his spunk. 

“No more.”

“Last one.” Chanyeol promises seeing that Baekhyun probably can’t handle a whole lot more right now. “Just drink this last one and I’ll let you sleep.”

“Promise?” Baekhyun asks with heartbreaking hope in his voice. 

“I promise.” Chanyeol says presenting his spoonful for the younger. “Last one.”

Baekhyun sighs but dutifully sips the broth. “There. No more.”

“No more.” Chanyeol agrees setting the bowl aside. He reaches out and carefully touches Baekhyun’s forehead, checking for the millionth time to make sure the fever is indeed still gone. “Rest for now. There’ll be more when you wake.”

Baekhyun wants to tell him that that isn’t a comfort but he’s too tired so instead he just lets his eyes slide closed. He’ll sleep for a little while. Maybe then he’ll have the strength to argue again. 

~*~

“You had us worried.” Kyungsoo says when Baekhyun wakes up and blinks at him. It’s the first time he’s been able to get Chanyeol to actually leave the room since Baekhyun took ill nearly seven days ago. The brutish man had stayed by his husband’s side, taking Kyungsoo’s instruction to get Baekhyun to eat as much as possible to heart. He spoon fed Baekhyun as much as he could hold until the young man started faking sleep just so he’d stop forcing him to eat. Now that it’s finally clear that Baekhyun is out of the woods, Kyungsoo has managed to usher Chanyeol back to his own room to clean up and rest for a while. But now Baekhyun is waking up and Kyungsoo intends to use the opportunity to scold the young man for scaring them. Because that was exactly what happened. They had been so scared, especially Chanyeol, but him too. He had been scared that Baekhyun would die and that the last hope for a happy life for Chanyeol would die with him. “No more illness for you now, young man.”

Baekhyun laughs weakly. “I’ll do my best.”

“Time to sit up.” Kyungsoo tells him standing up so he can help Baekhyun sit up against a stack of pillows he has ready to prop him up. 

“No more broth.” Baekhyun begs him comically distraught over the thought of being force fed more broth. “Please. I’m not hungry.”

“You need to eat.” Kyungsoo argues quietly. He can see Baekhyun’s sincerity but he also knows that if the young man doesn’t eat they’ll be right back where they started in no time. 

“It makes me so nauseous.” Baekhyun says not making eye contact with the concerned housekeeper. He knows if he does he won’t be able to handle the concern there and despite the way the broth makes his stomach roll like a pot of boiling water he’ll sip it just to wipe the look off his face. “Please, just no more broth.”

Kyungsoo thinks that over. “Do you feel up to a little rice?”

It’s Baekhyun’s turn to think for a minute. “I could try. It sounds better.”

“Okay.” Kyungsoo says setting the bowl of broth aside and standing up. “If you promise to still be awake when I come back I’ll go get you some rice instead.”

“Deal.” Baekhyun agrees with a little grin. He rests his head back against the headboard and closes his eyes. “I’ll just rest until you get back.”

Kyungsoo leaves then. He knows full well that Baekhyun will fall asleep but that’s okay, he’ll just wake him up again when he gets back. 

~*~

“C’mon, you need to eat.” 

Baekhyun wakes up slowly and scowls at the spoon in front of him. It’s filled with broth, the savory fragrance of chicken making his stomach clench horribly. Sleepily he looks down the spoon and then the arm holding it to the deep voiced man behind. Chanyeol. He turns his head away. “No.”

“Baek-” Chanyeol begins, valiantly fighting the exasperation that rises in him. “You need to eat. C’mon, just one bite.”

“I’m not falling for that again.” Baekhyun tells him in a dull voice pressing his lips together when Chanyeol holds the spoon to them. A little broth dribbles down his chin and he makes an angry noise of protest. 

“You need to eat.” Chanyeol repeats adding a little pressure to the spoon trying to slip it between Baekhyun’s tightly pressed lips. “Just one bite.”

“Mmmnn!” Baekhyun replies brows lowering in very real anger. He is too tired for this. With one hand he knocks the spoon away, the little bit of broth still in it leaving a couple dark spots on the bedspread. “I said no.”

“What the hell?” Chanyeol feels anger spark in him as he looks between the spilled broth and Baekhyun’s angry face. “I’m trying to help you!”

“You don’t take no for an answer!” Baekhyun counters chest tight as he readies himself for the next round of their fight. “I’m not hungry!”

“Foolish child!” Chanyeol returns setting the bowl aside with an ominous thunk, causing some of the liquid to slosh over the side. “That is the cause of all our problems, but you’re too stubborn to see!”

“Oh yes, it has nothing to do with you being an overbearing bully with all the social skills of a battle ax!” Baekhyun bites back acerbically. Already his energy is waning dramatically but still he squares his shoulders and presses on, prepared to do battle until he wins this round. “You expect me to just do whatever you say because I’m married to you! Forget it. You thought you could storm into my room and demand liberties before and now you expect that just because you say I should eat I will do so! You are a fool! A domineering arrogant fool!

“Excuse me?” Chanyeol’s eyes shoot fire and his voice rumbles deep with his anger. No one has ever dared speak to him like this and he finds it strikes an uncomfortable chord within him. “Do you want to run that by me again?”

“Which part?” Baekhyun leans forward off his pillows, anything to keep from falling asleep mid argument because exhaustion is tugging at him but he’ll be damned if he’s going to let Chanyeol off that easy. “The bit about you being a bully or the fact that you lack social skills?”

“Perhaps you just bring out the worst in me, ever think of that?” Chanyeol growls fists clenched in his lap to keep from reaching out and strangling his husband when the man lets out a derisive chuckle. 

“You’re kidding me right?” Baekhyun asks incredulously. “Everything is someone else’ fault! Our problems are because of my stubbornness! I bet you’d blame how unsociable you are on the war or something dumb like that!”

“You are nothing short of a fo-” Chanyeol begins but is cut off by Kyungsoo’s return, the housekeeper entering the room unawares and then pulling up short to stare between the two arguing men. 

“I brought the rice.” Kyungsoo says holding the bowl up awkwardly. It doesn’t take much for him to figure out what was going on. There’s a couple dark spots on the bedspread and both lords of the keep are glaring dagger at each other. 

“Thank you.” Baekhyun says stopping glaring at his husband with an effort. He instead looks at the housekeeper, his eyes wide and sincere. “I’m afraid I’m quite tired now though. Perhaps I can eat some in a little bit.”

“That would be-” 

“No.” Chanyeol says standing up and taking the bowl of rice from Kyungsoo, cutting off his words at the same time. “You wouldn’t eat the broth. You’ll eat some of this before you sleep.”

“Like hell!”’ Baekhyun denies immediately, anger giving him a burst of energy that wasn’t there a minute ago. He could eat, the rice actually sounds good but at this point it’s a matter of principle more than anything else. 

“Don’t test me, Baekhyun.” Chanyeol growls ignoring Kyungsoo where he stands awkwardly in the doorway behind as he squares up to face his husband again. “You will eat at least half or you do not sleep.”

Baekhyun opens his mouth to argue but to everyone’s surprise Kyungsoo speaks up, a rare spark of fire lighting in his eyes as he advances into the room and on the lord of the keep. “That is not reasonable and you know it. He’s exhausted from arguing with you. The rice will still be here when he wakes up.” Kyungsoo actually takes the bowl from Chanyeol’s limp hands, banking on him not really reacting for another couple minutes. “You are not an unreasonable or cruel person so why do you goad him so? And Baekhyun, must you rise to every occasion? Just because he presents a target doesn’t mean you need to go to battle.” He rounds on both of them. “You are acting like children. Incapable of being in the same room for two minutes without supervision. You should be ashamed of yourselves.”

“You-” Chanyeol’s face is clouded with anger that Kyungsoo would speak to him like this but little does he know, the housekeeper isn’t done yet. 

“No, Park Chanyeol, don’t you dare. You know full well that I am right.” Kyungsoo sets the bowl down and puts his hands on his hips facing the Lord of the keep. “I have been with your family my entire life, serving first your parents and now you. I have watched as you went from a hopeful man excited about life to an alcoholic misanthrope who can’t even find a way to connect with his husband! And why? Because the war was hard? News flash! It was hard on everyone, not just you! But you’re too busy sitting here feeling sorry for yourself! Well no more. I will not sit by and watch you destroy your life. Watching you slowly dismantle your life is worse than that time that y-”

“Stop, Soo.” Chanyeol’s voice is oddly diminished, a hint of desperation under it. The anger of before is gone, replaced with a dull acceptance. “That’s enough.”

“Is it?” Kyungsoo knows why Chanyeol stopped him and he wonders if he should have kept going. Maybe Baekhyun ought to know, maybe it would help. But it’s not his decision to make. He breathes heavily and tries his best to ignore Baekhyun as the younger man tiredly watches him and Chanyeol speak. “Do you understand what I’m trying to say, Chanyeol? Do you really understand me?”

“Yes, I do.” Chanyeol says also ignoring Baekhyun as best he can. “But this is not the place- I don’t want to discuss it.”

“Perha-”

“No, Soo.” Chanyeol shakes his head and gets up. “I hear what you say but you do not understand. I am not dismantling my life. There is nothing to dismantle.” He stands there awkwardly for a long minute and then looks down at Baekhyun, heart clenching in his chest when he sees the young man staring up at him with naked curiosity shining his tired eyes. “Kyungsoo will stay with you, Baekhyun. Please try to eat.”

“I-” Baekhyun begins but that’s all the farther he gets because Chanyeol has already turned and left the room. He looks at the housekeeper in confusion. “Soo, what just happened?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter, my lovelies. I just really wanted to get something out. Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter contains very vulgar language and some elements of abuse.

“Baekhyun? Baekhyun, I need you to wake up.”

 

Baekhyun’s eyes flutter open and he groans. “I’m really not hungry, Soo. I’m too tired.”

 

“No, no, you’ve got to wake up.” Kyungsoo gives Baekhyun’s shoulder a little shake when he looks like he’s fallen asleep again. “Wake up, Baekhyun. You’re father is here.”

 

The speed with which Baekhyun’s eyes fly open leaves his head spinning. He blinks hard and looks around the room, eyes settling on his father where he stands looking dour. “Appa?”

 

“Your mother sent me.” Chunhwa says stepping forward from where he had been standing by the door. “She got worried when she never received a reply to her letter.”

 

“Her letter?” Baekhyun asks brow furrowed in confusion.

 

“It arrived late last week.” Kyungsoo tells him producing it from a pocket. “You were so sick. I was waiting until you could stay awake for more than five minutes before I gave it to you.”

 

“You withheld his mail?” Chunhwa asks lip curling angrily. “Where is Chanyeol? I will have you flogged for that!”

 

“Appa, stop.” Baekhyun blinks tiredly. The housekeeper has been his only friend here, he can’t stomach the thought of his father yelling at him much less threatening corporal punishment. “Kyungsoo didn’t withhold my mail. I’ve been very sick. I couldn’t have read it much less replied to it. I’m sorry I worried Umma, but don’t take it out on Kyungsoo.”

 

“Where is Chanyeol?” Chunhwa presses lips mashed together in an angry line.

 

“I’ll go get him.” Kyungsoo says quietly. He sets the letter down on the night stand and exits without another word.

 

“Why are you doing this, Appa?” Baekhyun asks pushing himself up against the pillows and trying to find the strength to get up entirely. He’s exhausted and his whole body hurts but he doesn’t want to face his father lying down. “Kyungsoo did nothing wrong.”

 

“You’re acting entirely too familiar with the help.” Chunhwa tells him immovably. “I should not expect any different from someone who was raised as a woman. Chanyeol and I will discuss this.”

 

That hurts. Baekhyun grimaces but doesn’t say anything, he just slides to the edge of the bed and swings his feet down. He’s already fighting the seductive pull of sleep. Silence descends between them thick and pregnant with years of unspoken hurts. The minutes stretch on while they wait and Baekhyun tries desperately to find the motivation to stand.

 

“You wanted to see me, Chunhwa-ssi?” Chanyeol says walking into Baekhyun’s room with a soft knock, Kyungsoo on his heels. He’s alarmed to see Baekhyun sitting up on the side of the bed but he doesn’t let this show on his face, instead focusing his undivided attention on his father-in-law.

 

“Yes.” Chunhwa says turning his disapproving looks on his son-in-law. He points at the letter on the night stand. “Your help was withholding Baekhyun’s mail.”

 

“I see.” Chanyeol says flicking an unreadable glance between Baekhyun and the letter. He doesn’t bother to mention that he knew about the letter, or that he instructed Kyungsoo to hold on to it until Baekhyun was well enough to read it, he just turns his attention back to Chunhwa. “Your son is tired, Chunhwa-ssi. Perhaps you and I could discuss this in my study?”

 

“I’m not tired!” Baekhyun denies pushing himself even farther up to keep his eyes from drooping. “I should be a part of this conversation! Leave Kyungsoo alone! He did nothing wrong and you know it!”

 

“Chunhwa-ssi, if you will.” Chanyeol extends one hand towards the door. “Kyungsoo, stay and get Baekhyun back in bed.”

 

“I haven’t left this bed in days!” Baekhyun says infuriated at being ignored. He gathers all the strength he can and tries to stand but Kyungsoo is there, easing him back again so that his butt never even clears the softness of the mattress. “Soo, no. Help me up. They can’t ignore me.”

 

“Get him back in bed, Kyungsoo.” Chanyeol says flicking another glance at Baekhyun. “Chunhwa-ssi?”

 

“Yes.” Chunhwa says looking approvingly at his son-in-law and preceding him out the door. He has faith that Chanyeol will indeed make things right, can see that he is a strong man, much like himself. “Perhaps you have something to ward away the chill?”

 

“Indeed I do-”

 

Their words disappear as the door swings closed behind them. Baekhyun clutches at Kyungsoo’s shoulders and tries again to get up so he can follow them and make himself heard. “Soo, help me up. Please- they can’t do this. You did nothing wrong.”

 

“You need to rest.” Kyungsoo gently removes Baekhyun’s hands from his shoulders and moves to the side so that he can slip one arm behind Baekhyun’s shoulders and the other under his knees. Carefully he tips the other man backwards and uses the momentum to swing him around so he’s back against the pillows. “Stretch your legs out, Baekhyun. I’ll get the blankets.”

 

“No, Soo. Stop.” Frustrated tears well behind Baekhyun’s eyes. He’s so tired but this is important. “Don’t do this.”

 

“You need to rest.” Kyungsoo insists feeling horrible. He trusts Chanyeol, knows that he’ll be fine. But he also knows that Baekhyun has no such faith. “It’s okay. Everything is gonna be fine.”

 

“How can you say that?” Baekhyun asks giving up fighting the tears so they spill over and stain his cheeks. “Soo, my father is out for blood.”

 

“Chanyeol will make it right.” Kyungsoo tells him gently tucking the blankets around Baekhyun and grabbing up a cloth to wipe away his tears. “It’s okay. Trust him. He’ll take care of everything.”

 

“He doesn’t care.” Baekhyun’s mind is foggy with sleep and he can’t seem to order his thoughts. “He’s just like him.”

 

“No, Baek.” Kyungsoo lays a hand on Baekhyun’s forehead, slightly alarmed by his elevated temperature. “He’ll take care of everything. You need to rest. Close your eyes now.”

 

“Soo-” Baekhyun cries a little more but his eyes close almost against his will. He’s just so tired. A few minutes, he’ll just sleep for a few minutes. Just long enough to regain his strength and then he’ll make Chanyeol listen.

 

~*~

 

“How is he?”

 

“Why don’t you go check for yourself?” Kyungsoo asks over his shoulder as he stokes the fire in Chanyeol’s study where the lord of the keep seems intent on drinking himself blind. Chunhwa is back in his own room, claiming exhaustion from the trip as an excuse not to go see his son again.

 

“Soo. Don’t make me regret sticking up for you.” Chanyeol warns in a dark voice taking another sip of brandy.

 

“You and I both know that Chunhwa doesn’t have a leg to stand on.” Kyungsoo tells him dully not at all cowed by Chanyeol’s sour mood. “After meeting him I feel like I understand Baekhyun a lot better now.”

 

“I know.” Chanyeol agrees staring pensively at his drink. “I’ve met him a few times now obviously but this is the first time I’ve actually gotten to see him interact with Baekhyun. It’s a little alarming.”

 

“Do you think he’s like that with Baekhyun’s brothers?” Kyungsoo asks with an uncomfortable twist in his stomach. He can’t bear to think of three boys treated with such indifference and disdain.

 

“No.” Chanyeol shakes his head. “No. His middle son, Jongin, is his pride and joy. And even Sehun is treated well. It’s just Baekhyun. For whatever reason Chunhwa seems to hold a special hatred for him.”

 

“That’s almost worse, you know?” Kyungsoo says with a shake of his head. He hazards a glance at Chanyeol and sees confusion written clear on the other man’s face so he continues. “If it were all three then at least they would have the camaraderie of a shared experience. As it is, Baekhyun has no doubt grown up believing that he’s less. It explains a lot about the way he acts. It makes me wonder if Chunhwa was ever violent with Baek. That would explain the fear in him.”

 

“Fear?” Chanyeol parrots confused. “He’s angry. He isn’t scared.”

 

Kyungsoo gives him a look that’s somewhere between pity and derision. “No, he is scared. It comes out sideways but I assure you, he is frightened out of his mind.”

 

“You never did answer me before.” Chanyeol thinks that over. Perhaps. Baekhyun certainly had been afraid of him, but he felt he had given him good reason. Other than that though, the predominate emotion he sees is anger. But maybe – he wouldn’t be surprised if Chunhwa had been violent with his eldest son – and if that was the case then Kyungsoo might just be on to something. “How is he?”

 

“I answered you, you just didn’t like my answer.”

 

“Kyungsoo.” Chanyeol growls and sets his glass down hard.

 

“His fever seems to be back though not as bad as the last time.” Kyungsoo tells him accepting that he shouldn’t push any more. “He’s resting now. I’ll go back and sit with him when I’m finished here.”

 

“Go. I can take care of myself.” Chanyeol says with a shake of his head. He can’t stand the thought of Baekhyun sick again.

 

Kyungsoo doesn’t argue, he just finishes up with the fire. He’s at the door before he finally speaks, needing to say one last thing before he does as he’s told. “He needs you, you know. He needs to know that one of the two important men in his life care about him.”

 

“I’m not important.” Chanyeol dismisses without thought.

 

“Yes you are.” Kyungsoo stares at him. “Play your cards right and you could be more important than his father. Just- whatever you do, don’t turn into his father.”

 

“Perhaps with time we can coexist in peace.” Chanyeol concedes thinking of his resolve never to relive his moment of idiocy that caused Baekhyun’s illness. “He will meet no more abuse from me though. That much I can promise.”

 

Kyungsoo shakes his head and opens the door. “Indifference is just as damaging.”

 

~*~

 

“Get out.”

 

Kyungsoo looks up sharply at Chunhwa when said man comes in unannounced to Baekhyun’s room, not so much as a knock to announce his arrival. He had been helping Baekhyun eat his preferred meal of rice, a small serving of vegetables and meat on the side so he can feel the moment his charge goes tense. “Excuse me, Sir?”

 

“I said get out.” Chunhwa tells Kyungsoo coldly. “I wish to have a private word with my son.”

 

To Kyungsoo’s credit he doesn’t move an inch until he looks at Baekhyun and receives a nod from the younger. It’s then and only then that he sets the bowl of food aside and rises, exiting without another word. Something about Chunhwa set him on edge and he debates with himself if he should trust his gut or if it’s being over excitable. It’s been nearly a week since Chunhwa showed up and in that time Kyungsoo has observed no warmth from him towards Baekhyun or anyone else for that matter. He seemed mildly less cold towards Chanyeol, but that is only because he believed that they had bonded over their shared burden, although even that dwindled drastically after Chanyeol did not agree to punish Kyungsoo as Chunhwa wanted him to over the letter incident. There’s something here though too that makes Kyungsoo’s teeth hurt it feels so wrong but he can’t quite put his finger on it. He shakes his head and makes his way down the hall. Better to bring it to Chanyeol’s attention and let the lord of the keep decide what to do.

 

~*~

 

Back in the room Chunhwa rounds on Baekhyun. “Enough.”

 

“Appa?” Baekhyun asks in confusion. He wishes he were better rested but he had been awake and eating for maybe ten minutes before his father had come storming in demanding Kyungsoo leave and although he is recovering, he finds he tires very quickly.

 

“This has gone on long enough. I can see that this arrangement will not work.” Chunhwa says raking a hand through his liberally gray flecked hair. “I am taking you home.”

 

“What?” Baekhyun’s brain feels as sluggish as the rest of him. His heart aches to see his mother and brothers but he isn’t dumb, a trip in his current state would kill him. Somewhere in the fog of his slow brain he wonders if his father realizes this but he dismisses the though. His father may not have any affection for him but he isn’t cruel. “I cannot leave my husband.”

 

“You can and you will.” Chunhwa responds coldly as if he’s talking a poorly behaved dog. “You have not consummated the marriage. I will take you home and seek reparations for the entire episode.”

 

A few weeks ago Baekhyun would have jumped at the chance to annul the marriage but now he isn’t so sure. He has come to truly value Kyungsoo’s companionship and care and although he has his reservations about Chanyeol he’d take his indifference over his father’s disdain any day. “No, Appa. I can’t leave here.”

 

“Come again?” Chunhwa’s eyes flash.

 

Baekhyun swallows hard and steels himself against his father’s rage. “I can’t leave here, Appa. I cannot leave my husband.”

 

“You and I both know this marriage is a farce.” Chunhwa tells him, voice frigid. “He does not want you. I will take you home and we will seek other arrangements.”

 

“If he does not want me then why did he marry me?” Baekhyun asks pushing the hurt at his father’s cruel words down deep. Doubts as old as sin sink their cold fingers into his chest but he presses forward, his sense of self preservation stronger.

 

“Strategy and alliances do not make a true marriage.”

 

Baekhyun can’t look at the hatred on his father’s face. “You assume my innocence but Chanyeol made our marriage true the day we arrived here. I am afraid you are stuck with this arrangement.”

 

“You lie.” All pretense of civility drops away like a cloak as Chunhwa snarls the words at his son, hopes disappearing with his patience. “He would not take you to bed. Not when he didn’t even want you. He only came and got you because I insisted. But I see now that this marriage is a sham. You will return with me and I will find you an appropriate husband. Someone who will understand.”

 

“Understand what?” Baekhyun asks throat stinging with bile.

 

Chunhwa’s look becomes unreadable. “Understand that you only have one use. I aimed too high marrying you to a man of high birth, even if he is a middle child. I will get money for you yet. And from someone who understands your use.”

 

Baekhyun feels like he’s gonna be sick. He understands perfectly what his father believes his only use is and the idea of going home to be resold is appalling. “No, Appa. I cannot go with you. I must stay here with Chanyeol. I am committed to this marriage.”

 

“You will not disobey me.” Chunhwa growls stalking forward menacingly. He bends low and gets right in Baekhyun’s face, one hand splayed in a move nothing short of pure dominance across Baekhyun’s chest, driving him backward into his pillows until he’s gasping for breath, unable to draw a full breath past his compressed lungs.

 

“Appa-”

 

“Pathetic disappointment.”

 

“Appa-” Baekhyun can’t breathe. The word is whispered on the last of his air, hands clutching weakly at Chunhwa’s hand.

 

“You will come home with me.” Chunhwa tells him coldly not removing his hand. If anything he presses down a little harder. “I will not continue to discuss this. Chanyeol will meet my terms or he will find himself with a powerful enemy. And you-” He finally lets up the pressure and watches as his son gasps for breath. “You will be married to another. Someone who understands.”

 

Baekhyun coughs, his lungs burning. “No-”

 

The slap comes out of nowhere. One minute Baekhyun is gasping and coughing, trying desperately to resaturate his lungs with much needed oxygen and then his head snaps back against the pillows, pain red hot and fiery exploding all across one cheek, the pressure so incredible he swears he can feel the skin split.

 

“You will not argue this with me.”

 

“Appa-”

 

“Shut up.”

 

Another slap, this one backhanded making his head feel like it’s about to explode. He can’t think. Can’t order his thoughts, can only register that his father is literally beating him into submission as yet another blow is landed, this one close fisted against his already aching ribs.

 

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Chanyeol asks coming into the room. He’s appalled and horrified at what he’s found, absolutely aghast that he almost didn't’ come. If he hadn’t – he cuts off the thought, unwilling to even entertain the possibility. He’s so angry his vision blanks out and he sees crimson. “Get the fuck out of my home.”

 

“He is coming home with me.” Chunhwa tells him closing his fingers around the front of Baekhyun’s shirt and hauling him up so that the sick man hangs halfway off the bed, still clutching weakly at his new injuries.

 

“Get your hands off him.” Chanyeol’s fists are closed at his sides to keep from tearing Chunhwa limb from limb. He’s actually shaking with the restraint he’s exhibiting.

 

“He is my son.” Chunhwa tells him not letting go.

 

“And he’s my husband.” Chanyeol comes back voice tightly controlled. “Now let him go.”

 

Slowly Chunhwa opens his hand and lets Baekhyun fall back to the bed. “Your husband?” He parrots disdainfully. “This marriage is a farce.”

 

“A farce you agreed to.” Chanyeol tells him stepping forward, watching intently as Chunhwa steps with him so that they circle each other, putting Chanyeol closer to Baekhyun than Chunhwa. “He is my husband and here he will remain. Kyungsoo!”

 

“Yes, my lord?” Kyungsoo asks appearing in the doorway immediately.

 

“Go tell Jongdae and Xiumin to ready my father-in-law’s carriage.”

 

“Yes, Sir.” Kyungsoo turns to leave but is stopped by another word from Chanyeol.

 

“Put together a hamper for him as well. He will leave within the hour and has a long trip ahead of him.”

 

“Sir.” Kyungsoo bows low, ignoring the looks that Chunhwa is shooting at him, and exits the room to do as he’s told.

 

“Get out of my home, Chunhwa.” Chanyeol tells him coldly.

 

“Not without my son.”

 

Chanyeol takes another step, putting himself firmly between Chunhwa and Baekhyun much the way he had with the bandits on the road. “You will not ever lay another hand on him. Now get the fuck out.”

 

For one tense moment it looks as if Chunhwa is tempted to argue or heaven forbid fight but then he just spews a few more barbed insults and storms from the room. The moment shivers in the sudden stillness of the room as Baekhyun and Chanyeol let the adrenaline of the confrontation wear off. At last Chanyeol turns back to Baekhyun, searching his face for any sign of distress. “Are you alright?”

 

He knows he should be strong, that he should set his jaw and tell Chanyeol that he’s fine but he can’t seem to make his body or indeed his emotions work properly. Instead his lip quivers and tears he can’t fight well in his eyes and then spill over. “No-”

 

Chanyeol knows he should do something other than stand there but he can’t seem to get hi s body to cooperate. “Are you injured?”

 

“Yes- No- I don’t know-” Baekhyun sucks in a panicked breath, heart beating frantically in his chest. He can’t seem to suck in a full breath and his head is swimming. His father has been verbally abusive for years but to actually strike him – he shuts off the thought – can’t handle the idea that his father hates him this much.

 

“Hey,” Chanyeol recognizes the signs of a panic attack, had seen enough men break down on the front much the same way Baekhyun is now. Experience and instinct kick in to remind him that leaving Baekhyun to his own devices would be the absolute worst course of action right now. He steps forward slowly, hands raised before himself in a show of peace so as not to intimidate Baekhyhun further. With care that belies his size he gathers his husband into his arms, ignoring the feeble way Baekhyun initially struggles against him. Knowing this is the absolute best thing for him right now Chanyeol just holds on until the younger folds himself into the hug and sobs against him, great shuddering breaths wracking his frail frame as he tries to work through what happened. “It’s okay. He won’t hurt you again.”

 

“He said my- said my only use was- was-” Baekhyun can’t finish the thought. He just hiccoughs and tries not to choke on his sobs. It hurts deep in his chest and he knows this pain is more than just strained breathing and broken sobs – this pain is the pain of knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that his father hates him or at the very least finds him so disappointing and repugnant that he would sell him to the highest bidder just to be rid of him. It makes his heart and stomach clench within him and he fights the flash of nausea. “I’m s-s-sorry-”

 

“Shhh.” Chanyeol feels he is the worst person for this job considering their previous interactions but Kyungsoo isn’t available and Baekhyun can’t wait for someone else, he needs help now. So he just smooths back the younger man’s soft black hair and shushes him gently. “It’s okay. You don’t have to apologize.”

 

“I can’t-” Baekhyun gasps and clings to Chanyeol, so desperate for support that he doesn’t care if it comes from his husband. “He’s never- never- oh my god-”

 

“He’s never hit you before, has he?” Chanyeol asks shifting so that he can sit on the edge of the bed, pulling Baekhyun with him so the smaller fits in his lap. With careful fingers he just continues to pet back his hair, trying to soothe him.

 

“No-” Baekhyun sucks in a shuddering breath and tries to relax but he’s acutely aware of the fact that he’s sitting in Chanyeol’s lap. He’s still upset but as the adrenaline leaves him so does a good chunk of what little energy he had to begin with. Not wanting to fall asleep in the other man’s lap he attempts to wriggle to the side. “I’m- I’m okay now-”

 

It takes Chanyeol a second to figure out why Baekhyun is telling him this but then he gets it and embarrassment floods him. He stands up abruptly, almost dumping the smaller man on the floor in the process but he catches him at the very last second, guilt spiraling low in his stomach to mingle with the embarrassment. “Sorry-” He corrects quickly and deposits Baekhyun back against the pillows. “I- of course- I’ll go make sure your father has left.” He flails a little, arms flapping uselessly by his side now that Baekhyun is no longer in them. “I’ll send Kyungsoo to you.”

 

“Chanyeol-”

 

The other man is nearly out the door when he hears his name called and he freezes in his tracks, turning slowly to look at his husband who looks near to falling asleep but is hanging on for some unknown reason. He searches his face, a question in his own eyes. “Yes?”

 

Baekhyun sags a little more against the pillows, his voice thin with exhastion. “Thank you.”

 

He watches Baekhyun fall asleep almost as soon as the words leave his lips and it absolutely breaks Chanyeol’s heart. In that moment he knows he doesn’t want mere peace or to simply coexist. Vulnerable Baekhyun has absolutely captivated him, his heart lost to the depths of those now closed big brown eyes still rimmed in the last of the tears that refused to fall. Even though he knows Baekhyun will not hear him he takes the time to respond all the same, vowing to come back and kick Kyungsoo out again just as soon as he can be sure Chunhwa is gone and staying gone. “You’re welcome, Baek. We’ll figure this thing out yet. I promise you that.”

 

~*~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are love


	5. Chapter 5

“Soo, what are you doing?” Chanyeol asks sharply. 

“Don’t yell at him.” Baekhyun admonishes taking a deep breath and trying to support himself more but Kyungsoo just tugs him a little closer and helps him navigate the last couple steps into the great hall. It’s early so there are only a couple people milling about, Chanyeol having just walked into the room himself and now standing utterly flabbergasted near the head table. “This was my idea.”

“You should be in bed resting.” Chanyeol tells him coming forward and halting his husband and housekeeper’s progress down the stairs. “C’mon. We’ll go back to your room and I’ll bring dinner to you.”

“I need to see something other than those same four walls.” Baekhyun tells him with nearly comical desperation. “Please, Chanyeol. Let me have dinner here. I’ll go straight back to bed after. I just can’t stand the thought of sitting in that bed a moment longer.”

“You need to rest.” Chanyeol repeats wringing his hands, a sure sign he is waffling on his decision. “What if you get sick again?”

“I won’t.” Baekhyun reassures, giving his husband his best pleading face. “Please?”

“Baek-”

“I’ll even let you carry me back to my room after.” Baekhyun wheedles, willing to do just about anything to get Chanyeol to allow him to eat dinner in the great hall. “Please, Chanyeol?”

The lord of the keep heaves a heavy sigh and shoots a glare at his housekeeper before turning a softer look on his husband. “Deal. But I’m going to hold you to that.”

“Deal.” Baekhyun agrees quickly, flicking a small smile at Kyungsoo. “Um… not to be alarming or anything but standing isn’t the easiest thing on earth. I think I need to sit down very soon.”

“Okay, let’s-” Kyungsoo begins but is cut off by Chanyeol who steps in and picks Baekhyun up without any warning. 

“C’mon. I’ll allow you to be up but I’m not having you walking out of your room.” Chanyeol says, deep voice carrying over Baekhyun’s little squeak of surprise. “Those are the terms of my agreement.” Chanyeol adds hiking Baekhyun up a little tighter in his arms. “Deal?”

Baekhyung kicks his legs a little so that they swing in the air and fists his hands in Chanyeol’s tunic. “Seeing as you’ve literally picked me up I don’t see I have any choice in the matter.”

Making his way over to the head table Chanyeol makes sure Kyungsoo is following behind before he answers. “But this will be the last time I pick you up mid-stroll like this. If I catch you out of your room on your own again I’ll take you back and tie you to the bed posts if I have to in order to make you stay put.”

“But I wasn’t on my own. I had Kyungsoo with me.” Baekhyun argues with huge innocent eyes and a tiny almost imperceptible quirk of his lips. 

“You are not to be on your feet outside the confines of your room until I okay it otherwise.” Chanyeol says setting Baekhyun down in the big armed chair that he usually sits in at the head of the great hall. He’s so focused on his task that he doesn’t notice for several moments Baekhyun’s playful look or the way Kyungsoo bites his lip and tries not to laugh at them. But when he finally does notice a huge smile splits his face and he straightens up, rounding on both his husband and his housekeeper. “Yah! What’s the big idea you two? You think you’re funny or something?”

“I know I’m funny.” Baekhyun tells him with sincerity and another innocent look. He’s enjoying this new relationship with his husband. For the last two weeks since the incident with his father Chanyeol has spent every waking minute that he can spare with Baekhyun, even going so far as to bring a small selection of books for him to read to the younger. It’s so soft and gentle and at odds with the man he had gotten to know in the first weeks of their marriage that Baekhyun feels for the first time hope blossom in his heart for what their relationship could be. He blinks up at his husband. “Don’t you think I’m funny?” 

“I think you’re a brat.” Chanyeol tells him flatly but he way he chews on his cheeks to stop from smiling gives him away. Carefully in order to hide his mirth he turns towards Kyungsoo , knowing he’s caught when the housekeeper looks at him with sparkling eyes. “Go get our dinners, Soo.”

Kyungsoo bows low, gratitude making his heart swell. “Yes sir.”

With this taken care of Chanyeol settles in to the seat next to Baekhyun. He looks at his husband, searching his pale face for any signs of distress. “Are you feeling okay to be up? I don’t want you pushing yourself before your body is ready.”

“I’m okay.” Baekhyun tells him trying to ignore the blush he can feel climb high on his cheeks at Chanyeol’s undivided attention. “I don’t- I don’t have to take your seat.”

“I want you to have the arm rests.” Chanyeol says thinking he could try as hard as he could and not be fast enough to catch Baekhyun if he tilted sideways on one of the long benches on either side of the great head table. He’d feel horrible if Baekhyun got hurt because of something so silly as a chair. “It won’t kill me to sit on the bench for one night.”

“Okay.” Baekhyun doesn’t argue further but he does lower his eyes. He can see servants on the far side of the hall pointing and talking about them, the disapproving looks their shooting him telling him very clearly that his illness hasn’t softened their hears towards him in the same way it seems to have softened Chanyeol’s. 

Feeling confused by the reaction Chanyeol looks up and scans the hall. Looking for the cause of his husband’s suddenly deflated mood. He spots the servants and feels anger rise in him like a tide but he doesn’t say anything. He’ll speak to Kyungsoo about the matter. Hopefully it is just a one-off and not as systemic as Baekhyun’s reaction lends him to believe. He does however resolve to follow up with Kyungsoo, just in case. 

Just then the housekeeper returns, dinner in hand. 

“What’s this Soo?” Chanyeol asks when a dish of bright savory spicy food is set before him. 

“Chaeukkbokkum.” Kyungsoo says setting a much smaller dish of the same in front of Baekhyun along with a bowl full of the sticky rice the young man seems to like so well. “I thought a little spice might make the storm feel a little less cold.”

“I’m not sure even the fires can keep this storm at bay.” Chanyeol says flicking a glance to one of the big windows along the far wall where nothing but the swirl of gray-white snow can be seen against the inky black backdrop of the night sky. “All the same, will you see to it that some is set aside for me to take out to Jongdae and Xiumin? I don’t want them freezing tonight.”

“I’ll see to it.” Kyungsoo says with a fond little smile at the lord of the keep. He shifts his attention to Baekhyun who is watching the interaction with a slightly pinched look on his face. “Will you need help? Or are you good from here?”

“I’m good.” Baekhyun says quietly shaking himself from his thoughts. He’s only ever seen Chanyeol in his room interacting with him. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the big man looks after the inhabitants of his keep but somehow it is. Somehow he had thought his husband was more hands off in the same way his father is, delegating to his steward to make sure that all is dealt with instead of seeing to it himself.

“I’ll help if need be.” Chanyeol reassures Kyungsoo when the housekeeper shoots him a look for confirmation. “Go enjoy your own dinner. I’ll be in after to take a tray out to the barn after I get Baekhyun back in bed.”

“Yes, sir.” Kyungsoo acknowledges, bowing a little and turning to leave. 

“You’re really going to make me go straight back to bed after this, aren’t you?” Baekhyun questions with a little pout, the idea of any more time in that bed making him feel a little sour. 

“That was our deal.” Chanyeol tells him gently, not wanting to fight but needing to make sure Baekhyun understands he’ll hold him to their bargain. 

“I know.” Baekhyun sighs and picks up his chopsticks. “I’m just so sick of that bed.”

Chanyeol thinks he’s adorable. He’s not sure what clicked with their relationship but he’s so glad it did. “I have to run that tray out to the barn after dinner, but if you wanted we could go sit by the fire for a little while. Not long mind you, but we could sit for a little bit.”

“You’d let me?” Baekhyun asks, huge eyes shining with hope as he looks at his husband. If pressed he could tell exactly when he started trusting Chanyeol so. It’s not like he doesn’t still get annoyed with the other man, it’s just that he knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that Chanyeol has his best interests at heart. Prior to the incident with his father he would have said that the men were horribly and upsettingly similar but then he got to very clearly see the difference between them and although he’s not sure he’d follow Chanyeol to the ends of the earth he would allow him to guide him pretty far. 

“Yes.” Chanyeol feels his heart turn over in his chest. It scares him how much he cares for Baekhyun. If anything happened to him – he shuts down the thought – he’ll just have to make sure nothing happens. “Come. Let’s eat so we can enjoy the fire.”

Baekhyun doesn’t respond with words, he just scoops up his chopsticks and starts eating. He doesn’t eat fast, couldn’t if he tried, but he eats steadily until roughly one third of his dinner is gone and his tongue is tingling from the spices. His stomach has shrunk so much since getting sick, it worries him a little. It’s not like he was ever a big eater, but this is just sad. Kyungsoo hadn’t brought him a lot of food to begin with and he’s only managed less than half and his stomach is already making it’s displeasure at being so full known. 

“Are you done already?” Chanyeol asks giving Baekhyun’s food a sidelong glance. 

“I’m so full.” Baekhyun says winding one arm around his stomach and staring balefully at the dishes in front of him. “I can’t seem to eat much at all anymore.”

Rolling his lips in Chanyeol presses them together and thinks for a minute. “Were you a big eater before?”

“Not really.” Baekhyun shrugs. 

“This is only slightly less than what you ate here before you got sick.” 

“I know.” Baekhyun glances up at the concern on his husband’s face and then quickly away again. “I don’t – I have a hard time eating when I’m stressed.”

Chanyeol feels a little like he’s been slapped. When he speaks his voice comes out choked and hoarse. “I’m sorry.”

“No- I-” Baekhyun doesn’t know what to say. His face is flaming and he can’t bring his eyes higher than Chanyeol’s Adam’s apple. “I didn’t make it easier on you-”

“Let us start over then.” Tension crackles between them with the memory of past arguments and Chanyeol can’t stand it. He’s only eaten a little more than half of his own meal but he stands up, extricating himself from the bench and then pulls out Baekhyun’s chair, bowing low in front of his seated husband. “Baekhyun-ssi. It is a pleasure to meet you. Allow me to introduce myself. I am your husband, Chanyeol.”

A delighted giggle bubbles up in Baekhyun’s throat before he can stop it but then he schools his features and gives the best bow he can while still seated. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Chanyeol-ssi.”

Straightening up Chanyeol takes a moment to simply drink in the beautiful symmetry of Baekhyun’s face but then he shakes himself and extends one hand. “Would you join me by the fire?”

Baekhyun’s face splits into a slow smile and he reaches out, placing his smaller hand in Chanyeol’s large one. “I would be delighted.”

~*~

“Something’s changed.” Xiumin says after accepting the tray of food for him and Jongdae with a word of thanks. “You seem, dare I say it? You seem almost happy.”

“You are lucky you saved my life in Mongolia otherwise there would be no way I would keep someone so cheeky around.” Chanyeol tells him in his best attempt at a stern voice but his eyes continue to sparkle and he can’t hide the contentment shining through. 

“I don’t suppose you’d like to stay for a drink?” Xiumin smiles ignoring Chanyeol’s words, they both know it’s only show. 

“I can’t.” Chanyeol tells him with only a little bit of regret. “Baekhyun is waiting for me.”

“Oh ho.” Xiumin teases but he couldn’t be happier for his friend. “Don’t let us keep you then.”

“Enjoy the food.” Chanyeol tells him, already turning for the door. “Do you have everything you need?”

“We do.” Xiumin tells him following him to the door. “Go enjoy your husband’s company. We’re fine here. Than you for the food.”

“Thank Kyungsoo next time you see him.” Chanyeol says venturing out into the cold night air. 

“Will do.” Xiumin calls after him. “Stay warm!”

~*~

“C’mon, I’ll take you back to your room.” 

“Wah?” Baekhyun opens his eyes and peers groggily up at his husband where he stands just on the edge of the great rug their chairs are on. The warmth of the fire had lulled him to sleep but he shakes away the cobwebs and tries to focus, having to clear his throat twice before he can speak. “No. Please- not yet.”

“You were literally just sleeping in your chair.” Chanyeol tells him with a fond shake of his head. He slowly steps forward and squats down before Baekhyun’s chair so he can look the younger man in the face, one hand on either arm rest. “C’mon. I’ll get you up for breakfast again. For now though, I want you to rest.”

“Can’t I rest here?” Baekhyun asks in a tiny voice but he barely even manages to lift his head off the armrest where he had slumped and fallen asleep. 

“You’ll sleep better in your bed.” Chanyeol reasons gently. He reaches out for Baekhyun and feels warmth wash over him when Baekhyun doesn’t fight him or even pull away but instead allows himself to be pulled into Chanyeol’s arms. Maybe it is possible for them to have a real marriage someday after all. He cradles him to his chest, in awe of the way Baekhyun rests his head on his shoulder and lets his hands rest limply in his lap. “C’mon. You’ll sleep so much better in your own bed.”

Baekhyun doesn’t respond, he simply hums in acknowledgment and picks up the beat of Chanyeol’s heart under his ear, the warmth of his husband’s arms lulling him ever closer to sleep. 

Carefully Chanyeol mounts the stairs to Baekhyun’s bedroom, moving at a steady pace so as not to jostle his cargo. He watches Baekhyun’s face as he goes and can see the moment he drifts off, eyes slipping closed for the final time and lips parting slightly in sleep. Not for the first time he feels struck by how incredibly beautiful Baekhyun is, eyes drinking in the smooth pale skin that looks as soft as rose petals so gorgeously contrasted with his silky black hair, the dusky redness of his lips, the delicate fan of lashes framing eyes closed in sleep – it’s staggering. As he walks a thought comes to him and gives him pause. Baekhyun had said he was sick of these same four walls. No. He shakes his head and continues on. Maybe later but right now that would be pushing too far too fast and he has no desire to scare the little man.   
As gently as possible he lays Baekhyun down in his bed, a small smile tilting his lips when the other doesn’t even stir, just nuzzles into his pillow in his sleep and sighs contentedly when Chanyeol pulls the blankets up over him. For a long minute he just stands there and watches him sleep, finally pulled from his thoughts by a soft knock on the door. Turning he sees Kyungsoo standing there, an unreadable look on his face. “He fell asleep in front of the fire- I was just bringing him back up.”

“I know.” Kyungsoo says quietly. He’s not sure why Chanyeol feels the need to explain to him but he just goes with it. “I saw.”

“When did this happen, Soo?” Chanyeol asks turning to the housekeeper, a million questions reflected in his dark eyes. 

“When did what happen?” Kyungsoo asks gently though he thinks he knows.

“When did he- when did my heart get involved here?” Chanyeol turns away from his housekeeper and looks down at Baekhyun again, heart clenching at the vulnerable openness of his face. 

Kyungsoo smiles gently and watches the lord of the keep with a tender look. “When you realized he needs you just as much as you need him.”

~*~

“But I’m bored.” Baekhyun argues standing in his doorway. “It’s just the library, not the end of the earth!”

“Write your mother a letter if you’re bored. Or read one of the books Chanyeol left in here for you.” Kyungsoo says not moving an inch from where he’s physically blocking Baekhyun’s exit. “You heard Chanyeol, you’re not to leave your room without help until he okays it. He hasn’t okayed it.”

“You’re here! You help me then!”

“His help.”

“Look at me, Soo!” Baekhyun says jumping up and down a few times. “I’m fine. And I’m bored. C’mon! Let me out!”

“Not without Chanyeol.” Kyungsoo tells him immovably. They’ve been arguing like this for the last ten minutes and neither one is backing down. With this in mind he switches tact. “Don’t get me in trouble, Baek. If you leave the room, he’ll know I let you. You wouldn’t get me in trouble, would you?”

Baekhyun snorts but retreats back into the room and plops down heavily in one of the chairs by the fire. “Like he’d ever actually punish you.”

A huge smile splits Kyungsoo’s face. “He might if I really deserved it.”

“Will you at least ask him to come see me when he gets back in?” Baekhyun asks pulling his papers to him and giving Kyungsoo a dull look. 

“Of course.” Kyungsoo tries to get control of his face. He knows that Baekhyun really is bored and frustrated and he feels bad laughing at him but he’s just so darned cute when he gets fired up. “He should be back within the hour. I’ll let him know.”

“Thanks, Soo.” Baekhyun knows he shouldn’t pout but he can’t help it, he feels like his brain is melting out of his ears sitting here day in and day out. It’s absolutely maddening. He really shouldn’t take it out on Kyungsoo but he can’t help muttering angrily under his breath as he sets up his ink and paper to write yet another letter to his mother. 

~*~

“How’s Baek?” Chanyeol asks the moment he enters the kitchen, finding Kyungsoo there, knife in hand as he slices an apple and some cheese from the larder and arranges them neatly on a plate with a couple slices of dark brown bread. 

“Bored.” Kyungsoo tells him feeling no need to dance around the truth. “He asked me to have you go see him when you got back.”

“I’ll go right up.” A warmth he is entirely unfamiliar with washes over him at the thought that Baekhyun wants him to go see him. 

“Here.” Kyungsoo hands him the plate. “Take this with you and see if you can’t get him to eat a little. He’s hardly eaten anything but rice for over a month now.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” Chanyeol grins and takes the plate, mounting the stairs to Baekhyun’s room taking two at a time. He slows down outside the door and knocks twice before opening it and letting himself in. “Baek? I brought you a snack.”

“I’m not eating a damn thing if I’m not allowed to leave the room.” Baekhyun tells him flatly. In the half hour that he’s been waiting for Chanyeol to return from riding out to check his outlying holdings he’s stewed on his anger and decided that he doesn’t care if they fight, he wants out of this room. “Kyungsoo wouldn’t even let me walk down the hall to the library! I’m bored out of my mind in here! It’s been a month!”

Technically it’s been closer to two that Baekhyun’s been in his room, the first several weeks spent in a sick haze or unconsciousness, but Chanyeol doesn’t correct him. He comes fully into the room and sets the plate down, leaning against one of the chairs close by. “You still get so tired-”

“In the evenings!” Baekhyun cuts him off, not willing to accept that as a reason he can’t leave his room without supervision. “I get tired in the evenings. C’mon, Chanyeol. I’m bored out of my mind! How long have I even lived here? And I still don’t even know the place at all because I’ve spent most of my time in here!”

Nearly three months. But again, Chanyeol doesn’t say it out loud, instead he just rolls his lips together and thinks it over. “Do you promise to take it easy and come lay down if you get tired?”

“Yes! I need some new scenery! Please! It’s already spring!” Baekhyun is almost embarrassed by how his heart leaps at the prospect. 

Chanyeol gives a little nod. “Then you can come and go as you please within the manor.” 

“Oh! Thank you!” Baekhyun really hadn’t expected him to give in so easily but he could just about jump for joy. He pauses a moment and then decides to hell with it and jumps up, dancing around the room for joy. He leaps around, bouncing up and down with joy until his foot catches on the edge of the rug and sends him tumbling. His heart leaps into his throat and his arms come out to catch himself but then there are strong arms around him and he looks up into Chanyeol’s handsome face, the smooth planes a mixture of amusement and concern. 

“Are you okay?” Chanyeol asks voice a little husky. 

“Yes.” Baekhyun responds, a little breathless himself. Chanyeol’s face is mere inches from his own and he can’t stop the way his eyes flick to his lips. “I’m sorry I tripped.”

“It’s okay.” Chanyeol’s eyes flick low too. How many times has he wondered what Baekhyun would taste like? If he just leaned in, a couple inches, that’s all it would take. “Accidents happen.”

“I should...” Baekhyun trails off, can see how distracted Chanyeol is. He watches as his husband’s head lowers a little bit and holds his breath, eyes slipping closed in anticipation. 

He isn’t sure what gives him pause but something stops him. He’s so close he can feel the heat of Baekhyun’s lips but he doesn’t press forward, he takes a second to let his eyes drink in Baekhyun’s open and trusting face and then he pulls back incrementally, voice still rough with unspoken emotion. “Kyungsoo sent a snack for you. Maybe you should take it to the library then.”

The moment passes, the magic of it bursting in light of Chanyeol’s words and Baekhyun pulls back, extricating himself from his husband’s arms. A chill he doesn’t want to examine settles over him and he wraps his arms around himself. “Thanks. I’ll just- I guess I’ll be in the library.”

Chanyeol watches him go with a sinking heart. Had he done the wrong thing? He hadn’t wanted to take advantage of the situation but now he wonders if he had miscalculated. Baekhyun’s face had been so red, head bowed as he had practically fled the room. Finally his eyes land on the plate still on the end table and he shakes his head. Baekhyun had been in such a hurry to get away he forgot his snack. Scooping it up he follows more slowly behind him, intent on delivering the snack and then disappearing back to his study for the remainder of the afternoon. Maybe by dinner time he’ll be prepared to see his husband again. But when he reaches the library he can hear sniffling from within and he pauses outside the door for just a moment before he goes in. 

“Baek?”

“Oh!” Baekhyun startles and quickly wipes at his tears. 

“You forgot your snack.” Chanyeol tells him presenting the plate before himself as he walks into the room and over to where Baekhyun sits curled on a couch by the fireplace. 

“Oh sorry.” Baekhyun clears his throat and prays it isn’t obvious he had been crying. “Thanks. Sorry about that.”

Chanyeol comes forward and sets the plate down again before dropping to his knees in front of the other, hands coming up to gently frame his face and wipe away a stray tear that had escaped. “Baek-”

Once again Baekhyun’s breath catches in his throat but he forces himself to speak. “You- I’m sorry. I know it was just a misunderstanding- you don’t have to-” But then there are lips pressed against his and he feels confusion mix with his misery for just a minute before he comes to his senses and pulls away. “Please don’t feel like you have to-”

“Shh.” Chanyeol shushes and then he’s pressing forward again, pressing a gentle kiss to the other man’s lips. It’s everything he had hoped it would be. Baekhyun’s lips are a little dry but he’s so sweet and willing, face turned up to Chanyeol, lips slightly parted. He pulls back and stares down into the trusting face, his eyes still closed as if waiting for him to kiss him again. “I didn’t want to take advantage.”

Baekhyun opens his eyes and searches Chanyeol’s, so close to hi s own. “I- I didn’t want you to feel like- like you had to-I know this isn’t that kind of marriage.”

“Would you want it to be?” Chanyeol feels as if he’s teetering on the edge of a cliff, heart in his throat. 

Swallowing hard Baekhyun can practically feel the color first flee his face and then the heat that follows, turning his cheeks bright red. “I’m not- I don’t know- I mean-”

It’s like a rock has fallen into Chanyeol’s stomach and he pulls back abruptly, movement’s jerky in his effort to control himself. He stands up stiffly, looming over Baekhyun and hardening his heart to the look of hurt on the younger man’s face. How many times will he prove himself a fool by hoping? “You don’t need to say anymore. I understand.”

“No, Chanyeol-” But there’s no point in continuing, the elder man has already left, the door swinging shut behind him. Misery of the most acute kind sweeps over Baekhyun and he bursts into tears. He’s not ready now but he’d like to work towards a real marriage. But Chanyeol hadn’t let him get the words out and he knows that his husband thinks he had been about to reject him. Burying his face in his arms he lets himself cry. Will they never figure this out?

~*~

“Did you hear?” 

“What?” 

“The master’s husband was crying in the library.”

“Oh? Why? Did the master finally tell him he can’t stand the sight of him?”

“No idea. We can only hope he’ll go home eventually. Spoiled rotten ungrateful brat.”

“Did you see the other night?” 

“What?”

“He think himself better than Chanyeol. He insisted on taking the master’s seat at the head table.”

“He didn’t!”

“He did! I saw it with my own eyes!”

Chanyeol has to turn and leave or he’s going to say or do something he’ll regret. It’s on the tip of his tongue to light into the two gossiping housemaids and to set them right but he doesn’t. Instead he bites his tongue hard enough that he can taste the tang of iron and goes off in search of Kyungsoo. It’s high time he got some answers and the best place for those is his housekeeper. He barrels into the kitchen without announcing himself. “Kyungsoo!”

“Yes?” Kyungsoo pokes his head out from the larder when he hears the other man bellow his name. 

“I require an audience with you.” Chanyeol tells him shifting restlessly from foot to foot. 

“How can I be of service?” Kyungsoo asks coming out, his apron full of onions and potatoes that he sets on the counter next to the huge vat of kimchi. 

“What can you tell me of how Baekhyun is received from the rest of the staff?” Chanyeol asks, voice tight from his effort to contain his rage. 

“Sir?” Kyungsoo’s eyebrows fall expressively. 

“I overheard two serving girls talking and it was most uncharitable.” Chanyeol explains fighting the urge to punch something. “They seem to think the worst of Baekhyun, is that the general consensus among my staff?”

Ah. Kyungsoo licks his lips. “They see you unhappy and they attribute it to Baekhyun’s presence. It is foolish chatter.”

“But they do see him as a- a-” He sifts through his mind for the right word, “A spoiled inconvenience?”

“It is foolish chatter from people who have not bothered to get to know him.” Kyungsoo dismisses but mentally he makes a note to come down hard on the other house staff. 

“And you?” Chanyeol presses, eyes shooting fire. “Do you feel this way?”

Kyungsoo gives him a dirty look. “You know better than to even ask such a question. I adore Baekhyun.”

Chanyeol knows this to be true. He sits down hard on one of the hard wood stools surrounding Kyungsoo’s work bench and rakes a hand through his hair. “I had no idea they felt this way.” A sudden thought strikes him and he looks up sharply. “Have any of them done anything to him?”

Another sharp look. “Do you honestly think I would tolerate such a thing?”

“You’ve tolerated their speech.” Chanyeol tells him angrily, frustrated more with the situation than with Kyungsoo. 

“And just what should I have done, Park Chanyeol?” Kyungsoo asks letting a little anger enter his own tone. “Should I have dismissed your entire house staff?”

“If that’s what it takes!” Chanyeol fires back. 

“I might be amazing but I cannot run this entire household by myself.” Kyungsoo tells him in a dull voice. 

“Then bring in new.” Chanyeol tells him standing up again. “But fix it before the week is out. I want every single one of the staff who has ever even so much as looked at Baekhyun sideways gone.”

“What else happened, Chanyeol?” Kyungsoo asks seeing so much more than Chanyeol is saying. 

“Nothi-”

“Don’t lie to me.” Kyungsoo says and he knows he’s treading on thin ice here but he hopes he isn’t about to find himself out on his ass. He sighs and rakes a hand through his hair. “What happened?” 

Chanyeol shakes his head. “Nothing.” He stalks to the door. “Fix it Kyungsoo. Fix it now.”

~*~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are love.


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